* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
So, Uber, a company whose business practices have been, thus far, somewhat suspect, have been told by Transport for London that, unless they sharpen up their act, theyll lose their licence. Cue the more libertarian tendency, who have claimed that millions of people use them and that 40,000 people will lose their jobs.
Time for some perspective.
According to Uber, and lets assume that their figure is accurate here, 52 million journeys were made in London using their service last year, and that they had 3.4 million users in that time.
That works out as being just over six journeys per Londoner during that period, assuming of course that only London residents used it a pretty unlikely scenario given its popularity with young people who travel abroad. You wouldnt describe it as a core part of Londons transport infrastructure at that sort of level, compared to say the 1.35 billion journeys made on the Tube, or the 2.3 billion journeys made by bus or even the 117 million journeys on the DLR, and thats before you consider the surface rail network, cyclists, car users, those who walk or use other private hire vehicles.
So, Uber isnt vital, really. Its convenient, true, but not essential.
As for the job losses, 52 million journeys, divided by 40,000 Uber drivers, works out at five per day per driver, based on a five day week. If the average Uber driver is living off of that, Id be amazed. There will be, obviously, some full-time drivers, but exaggerating the numbers in support of Uber does nobody any favours. And besides, if Uber passengers are displaced to other travel options, potential jobs are created there.
The hyperbole aside, this is an issue about regulation the balance between freedom and protection, if you like. You can even argue that its a question of choice. Few would argue that the emergence of Uber in particular has not driven improvements in its competition, with new online options for booking taxis popping up, and that makes for more accessible options for potential travellers.
But there has to be a level playing field to ensure that choice continues to exist, and that means a degree of regulation to ensure minimum standards of safety in transportation. It also means that the regulatory body must reasonable access to compliance data, something that Uber have a poor attitude towards, their use of Greyball being just the most prominent example.
Uber are being offered a straightforward choice, comply with those regulations deemed to be appropriate, or not have a licence. For, if their service is financially competitive, it will survive having to obey the same rules as its equivalent competitors. If not, perhaps it isnt worth the $65 billion it is currently valued at.
A final note. I live in a small village in rural Suffolk. It has no scheduled public transport and, funnily enough, having tried Uber this afternoon, there were no cars available. For those of us without the amazing diversity of choice that London offers, and who have seen swingeing cuts in rural bus services over the past decade, the irony of such uproar over a minute fraction of the overall transportation choice available to Londoners is not lost.
Londoners get a vastly larger share of transport spending than any other part of the country. Perhaps some support towards better transport options in the rest of the United Kingdom is a higher priority?
* Mark Valladares is a regular user of public transport and supports his local minicab firm.
SYRIANS separated from loved ones by civil unrest were forced onto the councils housing waiting list, despite wishes to live with their resettled family in Limerick.
Last year, a number of resettled Syrian refugees applied to the Department of Justice to have family members flown from overcrowded camps in the Lebanon to Limerick. This was done through the family reunification programme.
But one family was told that they had to wait in line along with 3,250 others on Limerick City and County Councils waiting list, according to internal correspondence received under Freedom of Information.
In an e-mail to the Department of Justice, a council official said that a family made a presumption that they can move in with the existing family.
Just as an advisement, this categorically cannot happen and will not be facilitated as it will lead to overcrowding. In this circumstance, a permission to reside form has to be submitted to be the LA [local authority], wherein the LA will determine if it is possible for this to happen.
Given how difficult it was to find the existing units for each particular family and their specific profile it is highly unlikely that there is any room at the inn, so to speak, the official wrote on January 24 last.
The official added: Given that this is the likely scenario, the other family members will have to apply for social housing - they, I presume, do not have the same status attached to them as did the original family and will have to wait in line, along with 3,250 on our current waiting list. You might advise me on your perspective on this.
The official wrote that the family could apply for Housing Assistance Payment and that she wanted to ensure that there is no confusion about what we can and cannot do.
It is understood that individuals arriving in Ireland, under the programme, do not have refugee status, but are granted the same rights and entitlements as their resettled family members.
Resettled refugees are entitled to equal access to mainstream services, such as healthcare, education and housing.
In response to the councils e-mail, an official with the Department of Justice replied:
Yes, I understand the situation has been explained to families. The family should be advised to look for accommodation for them under SWA [supplementary welfare allowance]. The DSP [Department of Social Protection] would have to decide on eligibility.
Fiona Finn, CEO of the Irish Immigrant Support Group, Nasc, said that the housing crisis cannot become the means for the Government to limit or even refuse family reunification rights to refugees.
These are families that are particularly vulnerable, having come to Ireland seeking safety from violence and persecution, and we would certainly be looking for local authorities and state agencies to be doing as much as they can do to safeguard these families from homelessness while also ensuring that families have housing suited to their needs.
The Limerick Leader contacted Limerick City and County Council, which chairs the resettlement programme locally, but it has yet to issue a response.
OVER the course of the last week, we have again seen Limericks first citizen let himselfand all of usdown in his handling of the media.
After a report on a spate of quad bike thefts, which also highlighted Mayor Stephen Keary's involvement in a meeting, he launched into an attack on this reporter, using the words poor journalism to describe a story that he didnt like.
This behaviour is unfortunately all too common in todays global political climate.
It really begs the question, does Cllr Keary know what journalism is?
After other councillors criticisms you shouldn't have held a meeting Cllr Keary employed a political dodge she shouldn't have reported on it.
Yes, this journalist was invited by farmers, and then asked to leave, and the story was nevertheless written after interviews were conducted separately from the meeting.
But that point aside, is there really such thing as a truly private meeting, when carried out by a mayor in the name of those who elected him or her? A meeting's contents can often be kept under wraps, but the very fact of a meeting taking place should hardly be secret information.
It was poor journalism and unprofessional of the journalist, the mayor said, about a story that highlighted an issue that is negatively impacting dozens of rural farmers, and one that is clearly in the publics interest to know.
Following the mayor's comments, some lovely and concerned people wondered if the comments had left me sad, angry or hurt.
Others wondered why we would seek an apology, suggesting that journalists ought to lump it. Dealing with politicians is, after all, part of the job.
This was a personal attack on the professionalism of someone just doing their job, by a grown man and a public representative. But to focus on any personal offence caused is to take attention away from the real problem at the heart of the comments.
After being confronted by his angry council colleagues, whose invitations surely got lost in the post, Cllr Keary publicly vented his disquiet over his failed attempt to control or even nip the storywhich was ultimately about the concern around quad bike theftsin the bud.
Mayor of Limerick needs to apologise to a fine young @Limerick_Leader journalist, @mariaflan, after verbally abusing her for doing her job pic.twitter.com/XU2tZYCORC Alan English (@AlanEnglish9) September 14, 2017
Our role as the press is to act as the eyes and ears of the public. In instances where a politician attempts to control a story, the free press is compromised.
Anyone who cares about the important role the press plays in an open democracy should take offence to this attempt to stifle it.
And our highlighting of this matter, as well as the editors call for a public apology from Cllr Keary, should serve as a statement about how we ought to be reacting to politicians attempts to chill our freedom to report the most important Limerick stories to you, our readers.
A LIMERICK vet is hoping to save the seriously injured leg of a stray dog, which was caught by animal welfare volunteers during the week.
In a post on social media on Friday evening, John ODwyer Small Animal Hospital, based in Henry Street, informed the public that the injured dog was now in his care.
During the week, a number of social media users had published images of the pet roaming around William Street, in search for the owner.
He has been caught by a Limerick Animal welfare volunteer and brought in to us this evening. He has a broken leg that someone tried to splint themselves but did it very badly, with no padding under the pieces of wood which did not even cover all the original fracture, the hospital stated on Facebook.
The clinic added that the circulation in the dogs leg had been compromised because the bandage was too tight and was not padded, with gangrene starting in the mid-leg area.
It concluded: The next few days will show whether this leg can be saved.
A MAN has been banned from driving for four years after he veered into oncoming traffic in Limerick during a St Patricks Day sulky parade.
At Limerick District Court, the court heard that William OReilly, 27, of Bay 7, Ballyvillane halting site, was seen driving a sulky near Ballysimon Road in a very aggressive manner, crossing the centre of the roadway.
The court heard that gardai were alerted to the scene of a sulky race on March 16 last, at which the accused was seen as very agitated and aggressive.
However, solicitor Ted McCarthy told the court that it wasnt a sulky race; it was an annual sulky parade that is celebrated every year around St Patricks Day.
Insp Paul Reidy said that when gardai turned on the blue lights and indicated the driver to pull in and stop, he told the officers in the patrol car to f*** off. Mr OReilly drove to Ballysimon Road and stopped at a car park, where gardai approached him, the court heard.
This was the start and finish line of the parade, Mr McCarthy told the court. He said that the horse which Mr OReilly was driving was young and he had difficulty keeping it in a straight line.
Mr McCarthy said that the accused said that the gardai were causing a distraction.
The defending solicitor added: He accepts that he caused an inconvenience. He was concerned that the horse was difficult to handle.
Judge Mary Larkin said: This gentleman was in charge of the sulky and he had a horse that was difficult to handle. He had to veer into oncoming traffic.
For the Section 53 dangerous driving offence, Judge Larkin imposed a four-year disqualification and a 500 fine, to be paid within six months.
For Section 6 public order offence towards the gardai, the judge handed down a fine of 500.
If you wanted to explain the situation, you could have used other language. The gardai were trying to do their job, she said.
The Webb County Sheriff's Office is donating items to the victims of an earthquake that killed more than 270 people in Mexico City and its surrounding areas.
On Friday afternoon, Sheriff Martin Cuellar presented Mexico's federal police loads of food, water, hand sanitizer, wipes and dog food, among other items.
Latest updates from UC Berkeley on an appearance by right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos and protests against him.
1:50 p.m. Expensive selfies: Yiannopoulos 15-minute appearance on the steps of Sproul Hall cost UC Berkeley an estimated $800,000 in security and related expenses, campus spokesman Dan Mogulof said. He called it the most expensive photo op in the universitys history.
1:30 p.m. Yiannopoulos complains: Yiannopoulos complained about the crowd size to The Chronicle after his brief appearance at Sproul Plaza. In a text message he said, I hope youre reporting that the police kept HUNDREDS (400-500) of supporters outside to make the crowd look tiny. There were 500 people waiting to get in. They let in 75.
1:25 p.m. Protesters on the move: Several dozen anti-Yiannopoulos protesters marched down Telegraph Avenue from Bancroft Way to Durant Avenue and turned east. A handful of Yiannopoulos supporters marched alongside, even as the protesters chanted at them, No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA.
1 p.m. Sproul Plaza empty: Sproul Plaza was mostly empty less than an hour after Yiannopoulos made a brief appearance Sunday. Police remained in the area, as Yiannopoulos supporters in Make America Great Again hats lingered in the area and used the plaza as backdrops for selfies. Police disassembled a metal detector that people had to pass through to watch Yiannopoulos.
12:50 p.m. Protester arrested: One person was arrested during a protest just off campus. Keith Sherman, 30, of Oakland was arrested for allegedly carrying a banned weapon and wearing a mask during the commission of a crime, Berkeley police said.
12:40 p.m. Yiannopoulos gone? After chatting with supporters, taking selfies and chanting, USA! Yiannopoulos jumped over the double barriers restricting access to Sproul Plaza and left with his entourage.
His appearance lasted about 15 minutes. It was unclear whether he planned to return.
Thats a question only he can answer, UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said.
12:31 p.m. Berkeley Patriot waits in line: Leaders of the Berkeley Patriot, the student group that had invited Yiannopoulos but then cancelled the event, waited in line with hundreds of others trying to get into Sproul Plaza. They were still waiting as Yiannopoulos sang and signed autographs inside.
12:25 p.m. Yiannopoulos sings. Yiannopoulos launched into a rendition of the National Anthem and blew kisses to the crowd as protesters yelled at him. He ignored them and shortly after was escorted away from the steps and behind Sproul Hall.
12:15 p.m. Yiannopoulos snapping selfies at Sproul. Yiannopoulos was standing on the steps of Sproul Plaza snapping selfies with fans and autographing their protest signs.
Some people are hugging him and waving banners in support. He was wearing an American flag scarf around his neck.
12:10 p.m. Based Stickman on campus. President Trump supporter Kyle Chapman, who calls himself Based Stickman, has arrived at UC Berkeley.
Chapman, a 41-year-old Daly City man, became a cause celebre for many on the far right after a widely circulated video appeared to show him beating a demonstrator with a stick at a March 4 protest in Berkeley.
A judge ordered Chapman to stay away from a right-wing gathering last month in downtown Berkeley. He has pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of possessing a leaded cane.
12:05 p.m. Yiannopoulos arrives. Yiannopoulos and an entourage have arrived at the campus, officials say.
Noon: Yiannopoulos has to stand in line. Yiannopoulos will be required to go through metal detectors like everyone else, university officials said.
11:45 a.m.: Sproul Plaza opening: UC Berkeley officials are opening Sproul Plaza in anticipation of right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos arrival.
Authorities set up a metal detector at the entrance to Sproul Plaza. Several hundred people were in line for the metal detector and were milling around on Bancroft Way.
In a statement, UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said Yiannopoulos and members of the public would be held to rules that include, No bags. Consistent with the already-posted security restrictions, nothing that UCPD determines to be of a size and weight that would allow it to be used as a weapon. No amplified sound.
11:35 a.m.
As the number of protesters and Yiannopoulos supporters grew in anticipation of his arrival, police officers have moved into position between the two sides. Demonstrators were shouting at each other, but there was no violence.
Meanwhile businesses along Bancroft Way began shutting down in anticipation of the arrival of Yiannopoulos advertised noon arrival.
Accompanying him as speakers were far-right commentators Pamela Gellar and Mike Cernovich, pro-President Trump street artist SABO, conservative author Lisa De Pasquale and former UC Irvine College Republicans President Ariana Rowlands, according to Yiannopoulos organization.
Tyler DeChance, a 22-year-old Berkeley City College student studying computer programming, sat off to the side of the crowd. He was wearing a Trump-Pence Make America Great Again shirt and said he was passively protesting.
It's crazy its gotten this hyped up over a Republican speaker, he said.
DeChance said he was slightly concerned about his safety, but that hes been hit and threatened at these protests before. People should be able to speak regardless of their views, he said.
11:10 a.m. The crowd gathering at the south entrance to campus has swelled to about 200 people, where Sproul Plaza remains blocked off.
Businesses on Bancroft Way on the south edge of UC Berkeley were still open, and owners stood in their doorways watching the events unfold across the street. Dozens of police officers wearing helmets and with sticks on their belts waited on the sidewalk and behind barricades.
Protesters opposing and supporting Yiannopoulos yelled at each other, but there was no violence.
A woman shouting into a megaphone chanted, No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA, adding, We will not let Berkeley become another Charlottesville.
Nearby, others held signs that said, Milo is love, Milo is life, Milo is liberty. Some people wearing Make America Great Again baseball caps shouted, USA, at the woman.
10:40 a.m. Two dozen protesters chanted outside Sproul Plaza as an equal number of supporters of President Trump gathered nearby, several wearing Make America Great Again caps.
No Milo, no ICE, Berkeley is a sanctuary, the anti-Yiannopoulos protesters yelled.
The two sides occasionally exchanged verbal barbs, sparring over communism and other issues.
University officials were in contact with Yiannopoulis organization and said there were plans for if and when he shows up, said Dan Mogulof, a UC Berkeley spokesman. He declined to provide specifics.
10:10 a.m.: Dozens of police officers filed off charter buses to stage near Sproul Plaza as a handful of protesters milled outside the south entrance to campus on Telegraph Avenue.
Yiannopoulos still vowed to show up at noon, saying on social media that he wont accept failure or defeat ... and they better not try to stop me.
Jaime Abad of Union City, a Yiannopoulos supporter, showed up before 10 a.m. with a shield, megaphone and umbrellas, but was turned away by police, who banned such items from the area.
He said he was super excited to see Yiannopoulos.
I've done a 180, said Abad, 50. I used to be one of these Down with America guys.
9:40 a.m.: Concrete and plastic barricades blocked access to UC Berkeleys Sproul Plaza on Sunday as the university prepared for a promised appearance by ultraconservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and a planned protest rally.
Police officers from as far away as UC Davis sipped coffee and waved pedestrians away from the plaza, which was empty.
Just off campus, a group of volunteers set up folding chairs in an empathy tent, offering attendees a calm alternative to a potentially volatile confrontation later in the day.
Yiannopoulos said his noon appearance was still on despite the cancellation of all Free Speech Week events by conservative student organizers Saturday.
Protesters were planning to gather starting at 10 a.m. to counter Milos attempts to spew his poison, according to organizers with the group Resist Fascism.
With Sproul Plaza under lockdown, it was unclear where Yiannopoulos or the protesters would gather.
Lizzie Johnson, Kimberly Veklerov, Nanette Asimov and Evan Sernoffsky are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: ljohnson@sfchronicle.com, kveklerov@sfchronicle.com, nasimov@sfchronicle.com and esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @lizziejohnsonnn, @KVeklerov, @NanetteAsimov, @EvanSernoffsky.
Nine classrooms at Salinas Elementary School had elevated levels of mold, according to results from a limited indoor air quality assessment for mold.
In early August, Salinas Elementary students and staff began the new school year amid concern of apparent mold on campus. United Independent School District, which released the results Friday, hired SERVPRO to conduct an indoor air quality test. The company assessed 17 classrooms at the school on three different occasions.
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Laredo Community College may need to expand its taxing district to generate more revenue.
Mercurio Martinez, LCC board of trustees president, introduced the idea that LCC should become a countywide community college. The suggestion arose during a finance and audit committee meeting this week.
At the meeting, trustees were presented with enrollment and financial considerations in preparation for an upcoming reaccreditation review. LCC will be up for review by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in March 2019. The college was last accredited in 2010.
The financial stability of an institution was noted as an important factor for the upcoming reaccreditation. David Arreazola, director of institutional effectiveness and assessment at LCC, showed trustees a forecast of the college's revenues and expenses. Arreazola used historical data to predict LCC's financial future.
RELATED: $57 million budget proposed for Laredo Community College
Expenses are projected to exceed revenue near the 2019 fiscal year, Arreazola predicted, if LCC were to maintain the current property tax rate. He said the possibility of a budget shortfall poses a problem because it would coincide with the reaccreditation review.
If the tax rate increased, however, LCC would not face a possible budget shortfall, Arreazola said.
Martinez was quick to remark that negative publicity surrounds tax rate hikes. He proposed expanding the college district's taxing authority as opposed to increasing the rate.
Martinez said he believes it's important for the community as a whole to consider the creation of a countywide community college district. The process, known as annexation, is the extension of a community college district boundaries by annexing territory located within its state-designated service area.
READ MORE: Despite $2.1 million deficit, Laredo Community College proposing salary raise for employees
According to the Texas Education Code, service area refers to the territory within the college's taxing district and to the territory outside, which the community college district provides services. LCC's district service area encompasses Webb, Jim Hogg and Zapata counties in addition to the area within city limits.
Expanding LCC's taxing district would mean a major reduction in taxes for taxpayers currently residing within the district, Martinez said. However, he said he realized that a formal vote from both the landowners outside and within the district is needed before anything can come to fruition.
"I would like to plant this possibility to our community hoping that we would get a positive response," he expressed.
LCC President Ricardo Solis and trustee Henry Carranza expressed their support. Solis said a more dedicated effort should be made to include the topic on meeting agendas.
WASHINGTON - The Republican senators at the forefront of the latest effort to undo the Affordable Care Act plan to release a revised version of their bill Monday sending more health-care dollars to the states of key holdouts, as hardening resistance from several GOP senators left their proposal on the verge of collapse.
According to a summary obtained by The Washington Post, Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., will propose giving Alaska and Maine get more funding than initially offered. Those states are represented by Republican senators Lisa Murkowski, Alaska, and Susan Collins, Maine, who have expressed concerns about the bill but have yet to say how they would vote.
The Cassidy-Graham legislation would overhaul the ACA by lumping together the current law's spending on insurance subsidies and expanded Medicaid and redistributing it to states in the form of block grants. Alaska would get 3 percent more funding between 2020 and 2026 than under current law, and Maine would get 43 percent more funding during that time period, according to a summary obtained by The Post.
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The plan was distributed among Republicans late Sunday, with party leaders just one "no" vote away from defeat and as Republican senators from across the political spectrum were distancing themselves from the prior draft.
Aides to Murkowski and Collins did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Sunday. Republicans close to the process have long counted Collins as an eventual "no," with some predicting that little could be done to the bill to change her mind.
The fresh discord over a signature Republican promise added turbulence to the start of a critical week for President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. In addition to health care, both are watching Tuesday's special-election primary runoff in Alabama, a high-stakes intraparty fight between establishment Republicans and conservatives that could set the tone for the midterm elections next year. GOP leaders also are expected to unveil their most detailed blueprint yet of tax cuts they hope to pass by the end of the year.
"Eventually we'll win, whether it's now or later," Trump said of the health-care effort Sunday as he prepared to board Air Force One to return to Washington after spending the weekend at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Collins, a moderate Republican who has opposed previous efforts that cut Medicaid and eased coverage requirements, said in a TV interview earlier Sunday that it was "very difficult" to envision herself voting for the health-care bill.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a conservative who has advocated a more far-reaching repeal of the ACA, commonly called Obamacare, said he and at least one other conservative colleague do not back the measure "right now."
And Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has stated definitively that he opposes the current measure, showed no signs of backing down without dramatic changes to the bill's core approach that probably would come at the cost of other Republican votes.
Graham and Cassidy pledged to keep trying to pass their bill - but the White House and McConnell gave differing accounts of the path ahead. White House legislative affairs director Marc Short predicted a Wednesday vote, while a McConnell spokesman declined to publicly embrace that timeline.
Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," Collins cited concerns about how the Cassidy-Graham legislation would affect Medicaid recipients and people with preexisting medical conditions, among other things.
"It is very difficult for me to envision a scenario where I would end up voting for this bill," Collins said. "I have a number of serious reservations about it."
Collins voted against a repeal bill in July, and she is a key vote in the current dynamic. She said she chatted at length with Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday, but it wasn't enough to sway her. She said she wants to see the limited analysis due out this week from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office before making a final decision.
Two Republican senators - Paul and John McCai, Ariz. - have already said they will vote against Cassidy-Graham. A third would be enough to defeat the bill, since no Democrats are expected to support it. Republicans hold a 52-48 advantage in the Senate and can lose only two votes from their own party and still pass legislation with the help of a tiebreaking vote from Pence.
Trump said Sunday that the senators opposed to or leaning against voting for the bill, including McCain and Collins, would benefit from the block grants included in the proposal.
"Every state you're talking about, it happens to be particularly good for," Trump said.
The bill has been roundly rejected by influential national groups representing physicians, hospitals and insurers. Over the weekend, six such organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association, issued a joint statement urging the Senate to reject the measure.
While the CBO plans to release a "preliminary assessment" early this week, officials there have said they will not be able to provide estimates of how Cassidy-Graham would affect insurance premiums or the number of people with coverage "for at least several weeks." Trump and McConnell are trying to bring the bill to a vote by the end of this week to take advantage of a procedural rule allowing the plan to pass with just 51 votes.
It remained far from clear Sunday that they could get even close to that number.
Addressing Cassidy-Graham at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Cruz said: "Right now, they don't have my vote. And I don't think they have Mike Lee's either," referring to one of Utah's senators.
Cruz said that he and Lee met with Graham and Cassidy last week to propose changes to the measure that would get them to yes. Their changes were not included in the latest draft.
Conn Carroll, a Lee spokesman, said Sunday: "We want some technical changes. We are working with Cassidy, but we haven't committed to anything yet."
Graham and Cassidy appeared on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," where they defended their plan and vowed to keep up their efforts to shepherd it to passage.
"We're moving forward. And we'll see what happens next week. I'm very excited about it," Graham said.
The South Carolina Republican mentioned Collins and Paul as he made his pitch. "Rand Paul objects to the taxes," he said. "But when you look at the bill, Rand, we save a lot of money over time for Medicaid. We put a cap on Obamacare growth."
Paul said in a Sunday interview that he broadly opposes a keystone of the Cassidy-Graham plan: turning funding for the ACA into block grants for states.
"The problem I have with block grants is that looks like I've affirmatively said I'm okay with 90 percent of Obamacare as long as we reshuffle it and give it to Republican states," he said. "That's a horrible message."
Paul said he is willing to listen to suggestions about how that element of the bill could be constricted. "Would I talk to them if they said they wanted to make the block grants half as much? I might," he said.
Paul presents another challenge as well: Winning him over would probably alienate Republican senators who oppose a more aggressive repeal. That left GOP leaders no better off in their quest to secure enough Republican votes to pass Cassidy-Graham.
The proposal, which would also dramatically cut Medicaid spending over time, has drawn concerns from Republicans from states that have expanded Medicaid under the ACA. In an interview on CBS' "Face The Nation," Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., whose state expanded Medicaid, said he needs more information before he will take a position.
"I think the CBO will have a role to play in this," Gardner said. "I believe there's information that will be coming through a committee hearing on Monday and additional text changes that will add additional information."
McConnell is also keeping a close eye this week on the Senate race in Alabama, where Republican Sen. Luther Strange is trying to get past insurgent primary challenger Roy Moore, a controversial but popular former judge. Trump and McConnell both back Strange, but supporters and associates of Trump, including former chief White House strategist Stephen Bannon and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, have praised Moore.
A Moore victory would be a blow to both McConnell and Trump, who have put their powerful political operations behind Strange. Some Republicans also say that outcome would embolden conservative insurgents to challenge other Republican senators in 2018.
Also this week, the "Big Six" negotiators from the White House, the Senate and the House are expected to unveil more details of their tax overhaul plan, which, like the health-care talks, could spark messy disagreements among Republicans.
Some of the elements of the plan have already started to take shape. Republicans are targeting a corporate rate of 20 percent in their overhaul, according to three people familiar with the emerging blueprint - a number that represents a substantial cut from the current 35 percent rate but falls short of the 15 percent Trump has advocated.
But for Senate Republicans, the first order of business this week is resolving the health-care push, one way or the other. Even the bill's champions have started pondering the prospect of failure.
Asked on "This Week" what he will tell people if he comes up short, Graham responded: "That I did everything I could to get money and power out of Washington to give you better health care closer to where you live, and I'm not going to stop fighting."
He also held up the possibility of using health care as a negotiating tactic in future legislative talks.
"I'm on the Budget Committee," Graham said, adding, "we're not going to vote for a budget resolution that doesn't allow the health-care debate to continue."
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The Washington Post's Robert Costa and Carol Morello contributed to this report.
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MOSCOW - An aluminum magnate who survived the gangster capitalism of the 1990s and the financial crisis of 2008, Oleg Deripaska is a shrewd self-made billionaire who has managed to stay on the right side of power, whether by marrying into "the family" of Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin, or by making himself indispensable to its current one, Vladimir Putin.
As my Washington Post colleagues reported last week, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort allegedly offered to provide Deripaska, 49, with personal briefings about the 2016 presidential election less than two weeks before Trump accepted the Republican nomination. The emailed offer, said to have been sent to a Russian colleague of Manafort's, is among tens of thousands of documents that have been turned over to investigators looking into possible collusion between Trump associates and Russia as part of an effort by the Kremlin to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election.
It is unclear whether such an offer reached Deripaska, and a spokesman for the businessman denied that it did. But Manafort's apparent readiness to share information with an oligarch known to be part of a trusted circle of businessmen near Putin is one of the most concrete revelations to emerge from the probe into Trump's Russia links.
Deripaska's relationship with Manafort began in the mid-2000s, when Manafort was a consultant for a Ukraine-based oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov, an associate of ousted president Viktor Yanukovych. The Associated Press reported in March that Manafort signed a $10 million annual contract with Deripaska in 2005, a report that Deripaska denied and later contested in a lawsuit against the AP. In 2008, Rick Gates, a partner of Manafort's, wrote in a memo that Deripaska was considering partnering with the two men to buy the Drake Hotel in Manhattan. But the relationship later soured. By 2014, Deripaska had filed a petition in a Cayman Islands court accusing Manafort and Gates of taking $19 million intended for investment then failing to account for the funds or return them.
Deripaska, now worth about $6.5 billion, according to Forbes, has always stayed close to power. He married the daughter of Yeltsin's chief of staff, part of "the family," the coterie of influential advisers around Yeltsin. Under Putin, he survived near-bankruptcy to later invest more than $1 billion in Putin's pet project, the 2014 Sochi Olympics. A Russian state bank helped Deripaska with billions in loans, Russia's foreign minister has lobbied to help him get a U.S. visa, and a 2006 U.S. diplomatic cable disclosed by WikiLeaks said he was "among the 2-3 oligarchs Putin turns to on a regular basis" and "a more-or-less permanent fixture on Putin's trips abroad."
After graduating from Moscow State University with a degree in nuclear physics, Deripaska began his career as a metals trader in the mid-1990s before buying a stake in a Siberian aluminum smelter, which eventually grew into the Sibirsky Aluminium Group. The group, now called Basic Element, owns a 47 percent stake in Rusal, one of the largest aluminum-producing companies in the world, along with the hydroelectric power producer EuroSibEnergo, the GAZ automotive group, infrastructure, construction companies and the Russian insurance company Ingosstrakh.
The metals business in 1990s Russia, where the legacy of Soviet industry was up for grabs, was notoriously rough-and-tumble . In a 2008 lawsuit heard in a London court, a man named Michael Cherney claimed that he was a former business partner of Deripaska's and was owed compensation for a 13.2 percent, or more than $1 billion, stake in Rusal. Deripaska said in court that the two had not been partners, but that he had been pressured by violent criminal groups in the 1990s into a "krysha," or protection, arrangement with Cherney. The two settled out of court in 2012. Deripaska alleged that Cherney was in league with another man, Anton Malevsky, who died mysteriously in a parachuting accident in South Africa.
The business also made Deripaska fantastically wealthy. In 2008, Forbes listed him as the richest man in Russia and the ninth-richest man in the world, with a net worth of $28 billion. By this time Deripaska was meeting with a string of high-profile Western politicians, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Deripaska helped spark a scandal in British politics in 2008 when it was revealed that he had hosted the Conservative Party's chief spokesman on finance, George Osborne, on his $150 million yacht in the Mediterranean.
In 2005, the U.S. State Department revoked a visa issued to Deripaska, possibly because of alleged ties to organized crime, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal. But The Washington Post has reported that Deripaska's connections to Putin, or at least the Russian government, have been sufficiently close that as recently as 2016, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had lobbied on behalf of Deripaska for the United States to admit him.
Deripaska's business was blindsided by the financial crisis and collapse in commodity prices of 2008, and he was forced to refinance loans, according to some reports, with support from the Kremlin. In a $50 billion bailout, the state-run Vnesheconombank, or VEB, gave Deripaska one of the largest loans, $4.5 billion, to pay off foreign banks and avoid surrendering stakes in companies he had put up as collateral. When a Financial Times reporter asked him in 2010 how close he had come to going out of business, he replied, "Very close."
That also brought political trouble. In 2009, workers in the town of Pikalevo (population 22,000) began protesting after Deripaska's alumina refinery there halted production, triggering layoffs and pay cuts. The protests attracted the attention of Putin, who flew out personally to show that he was engaged in solving an economic crisis that was repeating itself across the country. In a dressing-down of the factory owners later broadcast nationwide, Putin berated Deripaska and forced him to sign a contract restarting the plant. As Deripaska walked away, Putin said: "And give me back my pen."
Yet Deripaska rebounded, surviving the financial crisis in large part thanks to generous government loans that were extended months after the Pikalevo incident. By 2014, he was investing more than $1 billion in the Sochi Olympics, including building the Olympic Village, a 26-mile road around the Olympic venues and an expansion of the city's airport. According to Russia's Vedomosti newspaper, Deripaska received an award from Putin for his investments in the Olympics.
Deripaska was seeking millions of dollars in recompense from Manafort and Gates as recently as August 2015, according to court records from the Cayman Islands, and at one point hired a private investigator to track the two men down. For now, Manafort's motives for suggesting that briefings be provided to Deripaska remain unclear.
Tension between the United States and North Korea remained high Sunday as Pyongyang released propaganda videos showing U.S. planes and an aircraft carrier under attack.
The violent videos came after President Donald Trump derided North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, by calling him "little rocketman" and vowing at the United Nations to "totally destroy" North Korea if it threatens the United States or its allies.
U.S. officials were more restrained in their words Sunday. Treasury Secretary Seth Mnuchin repeated the insistence that all options, including military force, remain on the table. But he lingered more on discussing how he has greater authority to punish countries, companies and individuals who trade with North Korea under an executive order signed by Trump last week. And he downplayed the likelihood of nuclear war.
"The president doesn't want to be in a nuclear war," he said on the ABC show This Week. "And we will do everything we can to make sure that doesn't occur."
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And Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., who has pushed stronger sanctions against North Korea and those who trade with it, said there is still room for diplomacy and tougher sanctions that aim to bring North Korea to the negotiating table.
"We have a long ways to go to continue to ratchet up the economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea and the enablers of North Korea," he said on CBS' Face the Nation.
"Our No. 1 goal with North Korea as it relates to North Korea must and always will be peaceful denuclearization of the North Korean regime," he said. "But we have a lot of work to do on the diplomatic and economic side before we think of any other option."
In Pyongyang, however, the rhetoric and the images evoked the possibility of war on the horizon.
Photoshopped pictures from a state-owned propaganda website, DPRK Today, purported to show a North Korean missile making a direct hit on B-1B Lancer bombers and an F-35 fighter jet. In the doctored shots, the planes were engulfed in flames.
Another falsified video on the website showed a missile launched from a North Korean submarine strike the USS Carl Vinson, a nuclear-powered supercarrier. Like the planes, the ship explodes in a firestorm.
The fake news targets were apparently chosen because B-1B bombers escorted by Air Force fighter jets flew in international airspace off the coast of North Korea on Saturday in a clear demonstration of force. And the Carl Vinson led one of two carrier strike groups that conducted joint exercises with South Korea and Japan earlier this year.
As the war of words escalates, North Koreans are being bombarded with militaristic and tit-for-tat messages. Kim himself went on TV to declare Trump is "mentally deranged" and a "dotard" and vowed to make him "pay dearly" for his insults. Kim said he was considering ordering the "highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history." On Saturday, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said Trump's remarks made it an inevitability that his country's rockets would hit the U.S. mainland.
And in a government-orchestrated display of North Korean anger, what appeared to be tens of thousands of people attended a huge rally Saturday in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square, a large public plaza named after Kim's grandfather and founder of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Demonstrators chanted "total destruction," and "decisive revenge," according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, which pegged the crowd size at 100,000. It said some people carried signs with the slogan "Death to the Amerian Imperialists."
"We are waiting for the right time to have a final battle with the U.S., the evil empire, and to remove the U.S. from the world," said Ri Il-bae, a commanding officer of the Red Guards, KCNA reported. "Once respected Supreme Commander Kim Jong Un gives an order, we will annihilate the group of aggressors."
Other countries have watched with alarm as tensions have escalated.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a televised interview Sunday that he doubts the United States will militarily strike North Korea because of its nuclear weapons.
"The Americans won't strike because they know for sure -- rather than suspect -- that it has atomic bombs," Lavrov told Russia's NTV television. "I'm not defending North Korea right now, I'm just saying that almost everyone agrees with this analysis."
Early this month, North Korea conducted an underground test on what it said was a hydrogen bomb much larger than the one that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.
Asked how the confrontation could be defused, Lavrov replied, "Only with caresses, suggestion and persuasion."
Lavrov warned that without a diplomatic approach, "we could drop into a very unpredictable nosedive and tens if not hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens of South Korea but also North Korea, of course, and Japan will suffer - and Russia and China are nearby."
Selling painkillers in Japan used to be like pulling teeth. That was until baby boomers discovered how analgesics could take the sting from arthritis, diabetic nerve damage and the ravages of cancer.
Now demand is taking off and drugmakers are introducing new products to a market where per-capita opioid consumption is the fourth-lowest in the developed world. Sales of drugs prescribed for chronic pain in Japan will jump 62 percent to 188 billion yen ($1.7 billion) in the seven years through 2024, Fuji Keizai Co., Tokyo-based market research firm, said in a report in November.
Unlike the U.S., where President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national emergency, Japan has had an aversion to narcotics because of restrictive laws and the stigma of addiction. But chronic-pain sufferers are demanding relief, and authorities are doing more to help them, especially since workers aren't economically productive when they are agonized by aches. A 2015 study estimated chronic pain costs Japan about 1.95 trillion yen annually.
"People suffering from pain these days are less tolerant of it compared with the older generation," said Tsutomu Suzuki, emeritus professor of addiction research at Hoshi University in Tokyo. "Some of the newer products are opioids, but they aren't categorized as narcotics, which makes people feel more relaxed about using them."
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe committed to improving chronic-pain treatment as a part of his economic growth plan announced in June last year. That led the health ministry this year to fund specially designated clinics and hospitals focused on managing patients in chronic pain.
Shionogi & Co., which sells OxyContin in Japan, filed an application for the drug to be used for chronic pain in November following a request from a health ministry panel, and antidepressant Cymbalta was approved as a treatment for chronic back pain in March last year. The Osaka-based company bought rights to sell Methapain, or methadone, from Teikoku Seiyaku Co. in February and won approval for Symproic to treat opioid-induced constipation in March.
"Most doctors in Japan feel strongly about keeping opioid usage to a minimum because they believe patients may not be able to quit taking them once they have been on them long term,'' said Masashi Katsumata, senior director Shionogi's pain management business. "That's why the risk of abuse and addiction is much lower than in the U.S., and that's an ideal situation.''
Daiichi Sankyo Co. began selling a generic version of OxyContin in March and won approval to sell the cancer painkillers Narurapid and Narusus in Japan in June following a government-funded program to support patients. Daiichi Sankyo, which also sells fentanyl, has a potential treatment for diabetic nerve damage, mirogabalin, in late-stage patient studies, the Tokyo-based company said in July.
Pfizer's Lyrica won approval as a treatment for pain after shingles and peripheral neuropathic, or nerve damage, pain in 2010. In 2012, regulators allowed it to be sold as a treatment for pain associated with disorder called fibromyalgia, and as a treatment for neuropathic pain the following year. That helped it become the fifth-bestselling medicine in Japan in the year ended March, according to QuintilesIMS, a marketing research firm.
Endo International's local partner Nihon Shinyaku Co. began selling Tramal, or tramadol, for cancer-related pain in 2010. It was approved for chronic pain in 2013, the same year that Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit was given approval to sell Tramset, tramadol combined with acetaminophen, for non-cancer pain and post-surgical tooth ache.
It's all adding up to less anguish for sufferers of chronic pain, more than half of whom receive no treatment, according to a 2015 study funded by New York-based Pfizer.
Part of the problem is that pain isn't well understood by doctors, according to Kazuro Wakazono, who runs a patient group called Goodbye Pain.
"Medical professionals tell them their pain is imagined or is being used as an excuse to get out of doing rehabilitation," said Wakazono, whose wife suffered from paralysis and pain after a car accident injured her spinal cord 15 years ago, leaving her to search for 18 months for appropriate care. "They are told to put up with it, which leaves them in despair.''
Still, newer treatments such as Lyrica and tramadol are giving doctors and patients greater confidence about using painkillers that aren't subject to strict narcotic controls, said Hoshi University's Suzuki, who is also a member of World Health Organization's expert committee on drug dependence.
While opioid drugs have been widely used for non-cancer pain in the U.S. since at least the mid 1990s, in Japan drugs like OxyContin were made available in 2003 and only for cancer-related pain. Japan approved tramadol in 2010, 15 years after it was introduced in the U.S., and hasn't allowed combination opioid drugs like Percocet and Vicodin.
When Japan's health ministry asked drugmakers to develop modern versions of morphine in response to WHO cancer-care guidelines in 1984, none of the country's pharmaceutical companies authorized to manufacture narcotics accepted the request.
Kotaro Shiono, Shionogi's former chairman, saw a pressing social problem, and agreed to obtain rights to develop Mundipharma's MS Contin, which was introduced in Japan in 1989, followed by OxyContin in 2003.
Shionogi had to educate doctors and nurses about MS Contin to resolve misunderstandings, and it took the company 14 years to achieve peak sales of about $100 million, said Katsumata. The company is part of a group of health-care companies in Japan promoting public awareness about palliative care, he said.
Sales of OxyContin fell 3 percent to 9.7 billion yen in the year ended March, and Katsumata is cautious about it sales prospects because of doctors' concerns that long-term use may lead to dependence problems.
Still, he points to a large, unmet need for pain relief, with many cancer patients reporting dissatisfaction with current levels of palliative care.
A San Antonio police officer received a one-day suspension in July for laughing at former City Councilman Alan Warrick, who passed out on a park bench outside City Hall after a night of drinking at a bar, according to suspension records obtained by the San Antonio Express-News.
Officer Abel Garcia, who has been with the department for 18 years, was en route to a call at 6:30 a.m. May 26 when he saw Warrick standing outside City Hall. Garcia told internal affairs investigators that he was alarmed that Warrick was at City Hall so early, so he went to check on him.
The national attention has largely turned to other storms, and the emergency response to Hurricane Harvey has passed. But the grim reality is that Houston and the Coastal Bend will be grappling with Harveys aftermath for years.
The storm still touches all aspects of daily life. In quickly releasing five interim charges guidance to House committees in preparation of the next legislative session House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, shows he is focused on the right issues for Texas.
His five recent interim charges focus on federal spending, education and flood control.
Straus has asked the Houses public education committee to recommend any measures needed at the state level to prevent unintended punitive consequences to both students and districts in the state accountability system as a result of Harvey and its aftermath.
Translation: He doesnt want students and schools punished for having their lives disrupted by this mammoth storm. This is a direct shot at Education Commissioner Mike Morath, who has said he has no plans to delay the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness tests, also known as STAAR.
This would be a mistake. Many families have lost everything. Lives have been disrupted. Teachers have used precious teaching time to comfort students. Some schools have started late. A Pearland Independent School District teacher has launched a Change.org petition calling for the cancellation of this years STAAR tests.
Some degree of accommodation is in order. There are plenty of options between canceling the tests and not pushing back the date. Students and teachers shouldnt be penalized in high-stakes testing for having survived a life-altering storm.
Straus has also called for studying damages to schools and how to help districts absorb displaced students.
The House Committee on Natural Resources has been tasked with studying flood control issues. This includes the need for new flood control projects and infrastructure, but also understanding dam and reservoir operations. Its a particularly crucial question after the controversial release of water from the Barker and Addicks reservoirs in Houston. The release came with little warning, and two residents died.
Federal funds are also on the to-do list. The House Committee on Appropriations will examine federal funds flowing through state agencies and ways to leverage those funds to mitigate future natural disasters.
Harvey is a mind-boggling cataclysm. Recovery from the storm and preparation for future disasters will take years and dedicated perseverance. These charges reflect a serious start to that journey.
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So here at MFM, we love that she wanted to share a little mum support with our own favourite princess.
Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece has had her fair share of parenting ups and downs she is a mum of 5 after all!
Speaking exclusively to us in Cologne last week, designer Marie-Chantal revealed she really feels for the Duchess of Cambridge, who is pregnant for the 3rd time, and suffering from a severe form of morning sickness.
I think Kate is having a tough time right now and shes doing a wonderful job, said the Crown Princess, who has been collaborating with nursery brand Silver Cross on a new range of products, to be released early next year.
I wish her well, she added.
We couldnt agree more Marie-Chantal is so right about parenting and pregnancy being tough, even if youre a royal.
(Even when you're not struck by seriously bad pregnancy sickness!)
Having struggled with hyperemesis gravidarum while expecting both Prince George and Princess Charlotte, poor Kate has been forced to cancel official engagements again this time round.
The extreme vomiting can even mean a stay in hospital for some women, including Kate, who spent 3 days being treated at the King Edward VII hospital.
But it hasnt stopped Prince William from getting excited about becoming a dad again and he may have even revealed when royal baby no. 3 will make an appearance ?
Have your say
We'd love to know your best advice for Kate when no. 3 comes along. Let us know in comments or over on Facebook
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Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > This Pain Should Become Anger!
by Varavara Rao
Shocking news! How much shock it would be for friends of Gauri Lankesh in Bengalurua friend enquired whether I knew the news tweeted by Rajdeep Sardesai. Immediately I tried to contact Babayya, another friend from Bengaluru. But couldnt get him on phone, perhaps sharing his agony with other friends. He returned the call after two hours. But what happened is not quite unexpected. Since the destruction of the Babri Masjid, she has been fighting against the saffron brigade. She is a brave woman in the heroic tradition of Lohias followers fighting against the dominant ideology since the days of Nehru.
What is fascism if not this? This is worse than the murders of Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi. For she fought as much against Hinduisation as globalisation with equal determination. The followers of Lohia fought against mining at Kudremukh and Bangalore-Mysore Expressway along with AIPRF. They also participated in the activities of Joint Action Forumof Indian People (JAFIP) and Mumbai Resistance 2004. It is heart-rending to remember the privilege of enjoying the support of democrats like her in Bengaluru in connection with our struggle against state repression and fake encounters in Andhra Pradesh.
We felt enraged hearing of the murders of people like Akhlaq and Kalburgi by the Sangh Parivar. We might not have heard about Akhlaq and Junaid before they were murdered. Even Najib of JNU, who disappeared after kidnap by the Sangh Parivar, might be living somewhere amidst us. We might have felt respect for Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi because of their activities in various fields and the news of their assassination might trigger rage in us. But without any acquaintance, if we respect somebody just because of their participation in movements, our response tends to be objective. If we get acquainted as part of the movements and that develops into friendship, the response would turn to be subjective also. There will be a tender bond. We feel proud in claiming that we personally know this activist. We recall the experiences only to convert this pain into anger. This is not a time to shed tears. It is a time to march against the fascist forces.
Ole Soyinka called his jail diary Man Died. The condition of an active individual is described as death when he is rendered unable to speak. Gauri Lankesh did not care the threats to her life. To the well-wishers who cautioned her, she replied: Our silence is the strength of the reactionaries. She was the lone figure in the crowd. She lived alone in her house in a posh locality of Rajarajeswari Nagar in Bengaluru. The enemy very well knew when she goes to office and returns. She was an easy target. As in the case of Kalburgi, she was also fired from point-blank range. The bullets that pierced her head and chest felled her on the ground where she bloomed like a flower in blood. The Congress Government of Siddaramaiah knows that death warrants are issued against all secular, democratic and active intellectuals like Gauri. She became Gauri Lankesh as she was fighting for those who are in trouble, unmindful of her own situation. Even Siddaramaiah was a follower of Lohia once. Now what is the use of grieving the loss of a valuable friend?
I met her the last time when I happened to visit Bengaluru in 2005 after the encounter killing of Saket Rajan, the State Secretary of the CPI (Maoist). He was senior to Gauri in Bangalore University. She wrote a long essay on him at that time. I went there along with Gaddar to receive the body of Saket. By the time we went there the body was secretly cremated and we were given his ashes only. In those two days all of us, including her, moved together. She had also come to Hyderabad to participate in such movements. I started from Mumbai on December 1, 1992, to reach Sringeri the next day to participate in a cultural workshop. I took with me the documentary He Ram produced by Anand Patwardhan to show at the workshop there. Ekatmata Yatra, undertaken by Advani in 1984, culminated in the destruction of Babri Masjid on that December 2. If that was an attempt to destroy a faith, the violence planned and executed by Modi from Gujarat to Muzaffarnagar and Karnataka is its extension. In the cultural workshop of Sringeri it was revealed that the next target of the Sangh Parivar is a Dargah at Baba Budangiri. After destroying Babri Masjid in the north to secure Hindu votes, this Dargah was selected in the South. Baba Budangiri is a place named after the Sufi saint who reached the hills in Chikmagalur district about 500 years ago. The movement to protect Baba Budangiri might not have prevented the BJP led by Yeddyurappa from coming to power. But for the present, minorities, Dalits, socialists and revolutionary forces in Karnataka could prevent the Sangh Parivar from occupying the Dargah in the name of Dattatreya Peetham. They fought many struggles against caste and Hindu fanaticism. Death warrants were issued against many of them. We do not like to advertise the list lest the names be known to the reactionary forces. Because of the legacy of Lankesh, the paper run by Gauri has become the centre for those agitations. That is why it has become the target of enemies.
Immediately after hearing of the assassination of Gauri, the name of Snehalata Reddy came to my mind. She was the companion of Telugu poet Pattabhi (of Fidel Raagaala Dozen fame) and played the lead roles in Samskara based on U.R. Ananthamurthys novel as well as in Chandamaruta based on the Naxalite movement. There is a strong group of intellectuals in Bengaluru dedicated to Lohias ideology. It was very active being led by George Fernandes. It is from that group that activists like Pattabhi, Lankesh and Ananthamurthy originated. But now we are facing an undeclared Emergency. It would target you if you prefer to speak out like Gauri instead of keeping mum like a living corpse. It is a clandestine mystery of darkness that could come to annihilate you as per plan. It cannot tolerate light, transparency or democracy. That is fascism. As Kaloji said, it is the force that will silence any voice that does not conform. But how many voices can they silence if all the dissidents join together?
During the Spanish Civil war, students, intellectuals and writers, who fought with arms against Fascism, were eliminated mercilessly. They did not even leave democrats who were hiding without fighting. Imperialism itself is enemy, war and death. Similarly fear, silence and sense of insecurity are also death. This Fascism of Brahminical Hindutva is just the beginning of that imperial Fascism. Shall we search for any safe place left where at least we can talk freely about Gauri Lankesh!
(Translated from the original Telugu published in Andhra Jyothi daily, September 9, 2017)
A well-known Telugu poet, the author belongs to the revolutionary stream of the communist movement in the country.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > Assassins of old were honest, modern ones are cowardly. But the cowards are (...)
IMPRESSIONS
In the days of Nathuram Godse, things were straightforward and honest. When he shot Mahatma Gandhi there was no attempt to hide his identity. The courage of his conviction emboldened him to say bluntly, I did fire the shots... I do not desire any mercy to be shown to me. His final statement before the court was an eloquent defence of the Hindutva view of history.
Courage of conviction similar to Godses was seen again in 1984 when Beant Singh and Satwant Singh shot Indira Gandhi dead. They were her bodyguards, professionally committed to protect her. But their ideological commitment proved stronger. Again, there was no attempt to escape from responsibility. In fact, according to some reports, they shouted Sikh slogans as they fired their weapons. When Rajiv Gandhi was blown up by a bomb in 1991, it was known that the LTTE was behind it; soon after the horror they informally admitted it, too.
Times have changed and ideologically motivated killings are done these days in cowardly fashion. Godse and others were proud of their ideologies and therefore had no problem coming clean on their killings. Todays ideologues are different. They are ready to use the violence demanded of them, but they lack the conviction to own it up. They kill in clandestine operations, then run away into the safety of darkness. In that darkness, obviously, hide protectors powerful enough to protect them. The protectors also are cowards who hide themselves.
Thus, the killers of Narendra Dabholkar in Pune have remained untraced since the murder in 2013. Three years after the event, the CBI arrested ENT doctor Virendrasinh Tawade who is still in jail. But CBI suspects that the killers are Vinay Pawar and Sarang Akolkar. There is no trial yet and no answer to the question: Who killed Dabholkar?
Govind Pansare was shot in 2015 in Kolhapur and died four days later. Sameer Gaikwad was arrested seven months later. In June this year he got bail. A Special Investigation Team took into custody Virendrasinh Tawade already in jail in the Dabholkar case. Vinay Pawar and Sarang Akolkar are also wanted in the Pansare murder case. Nearly three years after the event the question remains: Who killed Pansare?
Six months after Pansare was silenced, ideology-driven murderers turned their attention to Karnataka. They killed M.M. Kalburgi in Dharwad. That was on August 30, 2015. To this day neither the Karnataka Police nor CBI have been able to make a single arrest. The States authorities, evidently more incompetent than their counterparts in Maharashtra, cannot answer the question: Who killed Kalburgi?
Interestingly, though, there are some strange parallelisms among these unsolved murders. All three victims were free thinkers and rationalists, opposed to conventional beliefs including religious. Dabholkar campaigned against superstitions. Pansare, a Communist, carried on a war against caste. Kalburgi fought idol worship. On the other side, Tawade and Sameer Gaekwad were members of the Hindu Rightwing Sanathan Sanstha. Vinay Pawar was a friend of Gaekwad. Add to these inter-connections the fact that all three killings were carried out by motorcycle riders. Two cyclists shot Dabholkar on a public road, two cyclists shot Pansare and his wife in their house, two cyclists entered Kalburgis house posing as students and shot him.
Two (or three) motorcyclists entered Gauri Lankeshs compound and shot her. She, too, was a rationalist. She, too, opposed superstitions and conventional religious beliefs. As a journalist, she also had clear political views; she fought the very concept of the Hindutva. This and the similarities with the earlier killings of rationalists have spread the impression that Gauri too was felled by the Hindutva forces. Trollers strengthened the impression by suggesting that she deserved death for her anti-Hindu views.
Partisans turned the whole thing into a vicious political war on social media, indicating the depths to which bigotry has dragged the country. What is certain as of now is that India has become a dangerous place for independent thinkers. Even the barbarous practice of lynchings is condoned. Gauri was not as powerful an opinion-maker as Kalburgi or Dabholkar. Even then she would not be allowed to live. Intolerance has reached levels that threaten Indias basic values. The outpouring of protests across the nation, sensational in itself, is reflective of a fear complex that has seized the people. Are we losing the dream? If Gauris killers are not punished, there will be more Gauris because assassins will feel safe in our system. Gauri herself will remain an exemplara journalist who was killed for her journalism.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > The Eloquence of Silence
by Samantak Das
About a month ago, a US-based cousin was driving back home from work when the car in front of her braked in such a way that she was forced to pull over. The driver of the car, a large White woman, got off her vehicle, came up to my cousin, said, You f***ing black w****, go back to your own country! then turned on her heel and walked away. In her 20 years in the US, my cousin, a university professor who works with poor, marginalised and dispossessed groups of people (including many illegal immigrants), had never had to face such visceral racial hatred. She has worked in areas where there are poor Whites who might legitimately feel deprived and upset, whose anger could easily have focused on hera woman of colour, doing what many feel is a White persons joband turned violent. But it never had. Until now.
The change, of course, is due to the election to the countrys highest office of a man who wears his racism, sexism and bigotry as a badge of pride, who makes no bones about the fact that he sees the United States of America as an essentially White, Christian, masculine nation, where all other ethnic and religious groups (not to speak of women) are present on sufferance. Donald Trumps narrowness of vision, stridently racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric, his characterisation of Blacks and Mexicans as drug dealers, rapists and thieves, are not just disturbing and deeply scary in themselves, they also embolden others of his ilk to express thoughts and perform actions they might otherwise have kept to themselves. Witness, for example, the open display of Confederate flags and Nazi swastikas in rally after rally or the murderous car attack on anti-racism protestors in Charlottesville last month.
Perhaps an even bigger tragedy than his own bigotry is Trumps repeated refusal to even acknowledge, let alone condemn, that of others. The American media, especially online journals, have noted time and again the ways in which such wilful blindness and calculated silence regarding acts of racism, sexism and other kinds of bigotry have led others to spout hate speech and commit hate crimes; how the once-defunct and all-but-forgotten Ku Klux Klan is once again in the news; how violent crimes against non-Whites and incidents of gender and racial discrimination have grown since Trump assumed office.
These thoughts have been provoked by the news that a prominent Bengaluru law firm has served legal notice on behalf of a Bharatiya Janata Party politician seeking an unconditional apology from the noted historian and writer, Ramachandra Guha, for daring to suggest that the killers of Gauri Lankesh may have had Hindutva links. The legal notice states, quite accurately, that no evidence has been unearthed so far linking Gauri Lankeshs killers with the BJP or any of its associated bodies and goes on to add, for good measure, that the murders of other anti-Hindu-fundamentalist writersNarendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M.M. Kalburgitoo, are still under investigation. But therein lies the rub. That the murderers of Dabholkar (killed four years ago), Pansare (killed in February 2015) and Kalburgi (August 2015) have still not been identified undoubtedly speaks volumes about the efficiency of the investigative arm of our executive but, equally, they point to a conspiracy of silence on the part of our rulers regarding hate crimes committed against those considered anti-national or anti-Hindu (the two are rapidly becoming synonymous). Why have politicians, who profess to be patriots, not raised a hue and cry over the delay in these investigations? Why has our Prime Minister not once mentioned, leave alone condemned, the brutal gunning down of Gauri Lankesh, in his prolific Tweetery? Why have the gau goondas, who lynch those they suspect of trading in cow flesh, received tacit approval from those professing love for the cow and Hindu dharma?
This climate of silenceof a refusal to speak up and condemn such heinous acts, or to speak up just a little too late and say too little, perfected to a fine art by our nations supreme leaderis just as pernicious and soul-destroying for India as Trumps calculated silences and equivocations are proving to be for the US. And it applies not just in the cases of urban, urbane, cosmopolites such as Lankesh and her like; silence in the face of mob violence, or the lynching of alleged beef-eaters and cow-transporters is just as shameful and condem-nable.
The verbal racial violence faced by my cousin is a very far cry from the killing of an anti-racism protester or the physical assault launched on Mexicans post-Trump, butand this is really the pointit is merely a difference of degree, not of kind. And something eerily similar seems to be happening here, too. People, otherwise perfectly normal, apparently sober and decent people, people like you, dear reader, and me, are no longer afraid to express sentiments they would have been ashamed of articulating even a short while ago. The tide of venom against minorities, women, Dalits, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes that seems to have engulfed social media like a tsunami of hate and bigotry has to be seen and read to be believed.
Equating the 2002 Gujarat pogrom and the murder of Lankesh with the killing of street dogs is as nothing when compared to the kinds of things being said about those who condemn the killings and beatings by cow vigilantes or ask for more proactive measures from the government to protect dissenting voices. The ruling partys troll army is a well-organised, well-oiled piece of sophisticated machinery that can and will use all means to stifle and silence voices that question or condemn their masters motives and machinations and our natural propensity to kowtow to power will ensure that we either fall in and join our voices to this chorus of abuse and hate or, at best, keep quiet and justify it to ourselves in the name of peace or busy-ness or a sense of being above such pettiness or what have you. To speak up will invite reprisal and to keep quiet will make us complicit in the rapid unravelling of whatever ideals India still stands forthat seems to be the stark choice facing each one of us. The question each one of us needs to ask is: which side will I be on?
The author is a Professor of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, and has been working as a volunteer for a rural development NGO for the last 30 years.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > The Politics of Sangh Parivar has Seeds of Violence in it
The Prime Ministers birthday was celebrated by dedicating the Sardar Sarovar dam to the nation. There are 244 villages and one town that are going to be submerged by this dam. The cost of the dam is nearly Rs One lakh crore. Of this an estimated Rs 1500 crore was embezzled in the process of rehabilitation. An enquiry commission headed by Justice S.S. Jha was established to look into the corruption in rehabilitation. The government is not ready to make the report public.
Because of closure of sluice gates of the dam, 40,000 families faced submergence at once. The Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal had ordained that any family before being submerged should be rehabilitated at last six months in advance. However, these 40,000 families are being made to evacuate like rats by flooding their homes. This is akin to inflicting violence on people. Hence the birthday of the PM resulted in violence against the people.
On the other hand, Medha Patkar and 37 other people affected by the dam were standing in the Narmada water protesting the observance of the PMs birthday. Earlier she was on fast with others and was sent to jail on false charges of causing damage to government property. Till the PMs birthday not a single official of either the Madhya Pradesh Government or the Central Government met Medha Patkar. This demonstrates the Bharatiya Janata Partys lack of faith in democracy and their tendency to curb all dissent with brutal force.
This should not come as a surprise because the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, BJP etc., members of the larger Hindutva family, have always used violence to promote themselves. The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 is probably their most gruesome and cowardly act which is still justified by some Sangh Parivar members. The rath-yatra of Lal Krishna Advani, which culminated in demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992, was responsible for the birth of the problem of terrorism in India. First, serial bomb blasts took place in India in 1993 in Mumbai. People have been convicted for this but not for the incident of demolition of the Babri mosque which instigated the Mumbai bomb blasts of 1993. Even though it was Indira Gandhi who carried out the first nuclear tests in 1974, it was only after the 1998 tests carried out by the Atal Behari Vajpayee Government that India declared its possession of nuclear weapons and initiated a nuclear arms race with Pakistan. In any case because of the BJPs foreign policy Indias relationship with neighbouring countries has been adversely affected.
The 2002 communal violence took place in Gujarat when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister and in that over a thousand people were killed. This will always remain a blot on his name. After Narendra Modi took over as the PM several incidents of public violence against people suspected of being involved in cow slaughter has led to the killing of over twenty people including Mohammed Akhlaq and Pehlu Khan. Rationalists and intellectuals like Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M.M. Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh have been targeted and murdered. Even an innocuous looking programme of the PMthe clean India campaigntook the life of one Zafar Khan in Rajasthan in an incident related to open defecation when government employees beat him to death.
It is quite logical that as Narendra Modis stature has grown, hell need bigger sacrifices with more devastating impact to move ahead. Inauguration of the Sardar Sarovar Dam has made 40,000 people landless and homeless in one stroke. The Government of Myanmar is expelling the Rohingya Muslims from their country because of political vendetta but what was the fault of 40,000 families, all legitimate citizens of India, when they were expelled in a similar manner from their homes? Do they not enjoy the fundamental right to life enshrined in our Constitution?
The Sangh Parivar is enamoured of the Indian culture in which the value of sacrifice is held very high. Who can be a better symbol of this than Medha Patkar? The BJP governments of MP and the Centre are indulging in humiliation of Medha Patkar by ignoring her. The moral force of Medha Patkar is bigger than most of the so-called leaders. To become a leader by winning an election is one thing and quite another to be accepted by the people as a leader because of her participation in peoples struggles. Whether it is the arrogance of Narendra Modi or that of Shivraj Singh Chauhan, the Sangh Parivar cannot escape the blot of submerging 40,000 people forcibly. Once again it has been proved that violence is in the seed of the Sangh Parivars ideology.
The personality of Narendra Modi, by misuse of the office of PM, has in this one event emerged as an arrogant, self-centered, patriarchal, feudal, insensitive person appearing like a dwarf before the 32-years-long historic struggle of the Narmada Bachao Andolan. His concept of development is purely materialistic in which there is no scope for human feelings. His lonely family life is an example of this. It is unfortunate that in India, which has a tradition of rich and towering intellectual and political leadership, there is now a person at the helm of affairs who is very parochial and insecure. He would like himself to be juxtaposed alongside Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel or Vivekananda but he is so selfish that hell take the whole country down with him.
Noted social activist and Magsaysay awardee Dr Sandeep Pandey is the Vice-President of the Socialist Party (India). He was elected to this post at the founding conference of the party at Hyderabad on May 28-29, 2011.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > Murder of Gauri Lankesh: An Attack on Media or Ideology?
The Press Club of India did not have space to even stand yesterday (September 6, 2017). The outpouring of grief and anger in the street as well as on the social media on the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh compelled many veterans to join hands and speak up against the culture of intimidation and violence against those who differ with the current dispensation and their politics of Hindu nationalism. There were political leaders of the Left, though Rahul Gandhi and leaders of other political parties too had condemned the murder elsewhere, who participated and spoke against the violent assault on the freedom of expression. All of them wanted us to stand united and fight against it. In Kolkata, Mamata Banerjee too joined the protest.
Immediately after speaking at the forum, Ms Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai said that the journalists should not allow politicians to capture the space and that we should not become such helpless to get political support. Of course, immediately after Barkha Dutt, another activist journalist countered her and said that it was a war in which we know who are the people involved and we need to name them. While we know political parties have not much love with ideas and journalism, one just wonders whether both of them could have said things if there were BJP leaders or Sangh leaders on the platform. Why is this effort to look non-political when we know who might have been the killer of Gauri Lankesh and why she was killed? It is again very pertinent to check weather Gauri Lankesh was killed for being a journalist or an ideologue which was critical of Hindutva?
Gauri Lankesh came from a well-established family. Her father P. Lankesh was the editor of Lankesh Patrike and her sibling Indrajit was into film-making and became the owner of Lankesh Patrike after the demise of their father. Gauri and Indrajit had developed sharp ideological differences which compelled her to start her own Gauri Lankesh Patrike in Kannada. Her father was said to be influenced with Gandhian idealism but Gauri was more into rationalism. A moving tribute by her former husband, Chidananda Rajghatta, Foreign Affairs Editor, The Times of India, said how both of them became friends reading Abraham Covoor. So, it was clear that Gauri was a thorough rationalist and a constitutionalist as she believed in the rights of minorities, Dalits and Adivasis. There is more to the story too. She had been speaking at various platforms of the human rights groups including Amnesty International and had been persistent in her criticism to brahmanical Hindutva.
We should not forget the events which led to the further growth of tensions in Karnataka as far as the Hindutva project is concerned. On August 22, 2017, there was a huge rally in Belagavi in which seers and political leaders of the Lingayat community had participated and demanded in absolutely unambiguous terms that their community was not a part of brahmanical Hinduism and that they should be declared a separate Lingayat dharma. Now this demand is not old because political philosophers like M.M. Kalburgi as well as Prof Bhagwan have spoken about it in detail. Prof Kalburgi was brutally murdered at his home and Prof Bhagwan lives in the shadow of police protection for his alleged blasphemy of the brahmanical gods. The Hindu covered the rally and reported that all the seers and political leaders warned RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to desist from interfering in their communitys affairs. One of them, Jayabasava Mrutyunjay Swami, said: I want to tell Mr Bhagwat that we believe in Ambedkars Constitution and not that of the Manuwadis. We live according to modern principles of democracy and not Vedic ideologies. We will ask the leaders who are trying to divide us to give up the Lingayat faith. There is little doubt that Gauri Lankesh has been supportive of this view that Lingayat was a faith different from that of the Hindus.
In an article reproduced by The Wire on September 5, she said: Lets be clear about a couple of things at the outset. Though many people believed for a long time that Lingayats and Veerashaivas were one and the same, and that the words were interchangeable, they are very different. Lingayats are followers of Basavanna, the 12th-century social reformer who rebelled against Hindu society and established a new dharma. Veerashaivism, as the name suggests, is an order of the Shaiva faith, which in turn is one of the two major Vedic faithsthe other one being the Vaishnava faith. Both Shaiva and Vaishnava followers constitute the sanatana dharma. The essential difference between the Lingayata dharma and the Veerashaiva is that the latter accepts the Vedic texts and practices like caste and gender discrimination, while Basavanna not only protested against these, he offered an alternative that is an anti-thesis of sanatana dharma. This debate assumes a larger significance these days when Hinduism is being equated exclusively with sanatana dharma, in contradiction to the origin of the word Hindu, which included Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs. Shaivites, like Vaishnavites, are a part of the Hindu system of faith. And therein lies the difference. [Making sense of Lingayat verses Vairashaiva debate: The Wire (https://thewire.in/167389/karnataka-lingayat-veerashaive-debate/)]
Karnataka is top on the radar of the BJP as it is their entry-point for the South. The Lingayat community constitutes over 17 per cent of the total population in Karnataka and with its biggest leader, Yeddyurappa, the BJP and its top brass had been quite sure about their return but the events unfolding there have made things a bit more difficult. Yeddyurappa remained a mascot of Hindutva in the State but the religious leadership of the Lingayat are now open and categorical to clearly chart their own path and delink themselves from brahmanical Hinduism which certainly is not a positive signal for the community just before the elections. It seems the party has realised the huge loss of goodwill in the community in the aftermath of Gauri Lankeshs death which seems to have antagonised the liberals, who were supportive of it, parti-cularly after the attempt to justify the murder. As usual, the paid media gang has been brought to start the vilification campaign in multiple ways but in a careful manner. The Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Ravi Shankar Prasad, condemned those who were celebrating her death, the trolls continue to vilify her through whisper campaign on twitter as well as on whatsapp platforms while the Mughals of the media vampire would create more confusion and bring new angles to the issue. And what else could you expect than bringing a brother with whom she had dissociated long back and who has openly, in defiance of his familys political thoughts, now wishes to join the BJP!
According a report published in The New Indian Express on July 10, 2017, Indrajit Lankesh said that, After 25 years of journalism and being in the film industry, I have earned a lot of love and affection from people. Indrajit opined: This (politics) is in another place, I want to know if I can fit in. As of now I am just known to be aligned to the BJPs ideology, of course, Yeddyurappa and Narendra Modis leadership has inspired me to join politics. It is just a thought now, and it is too early to give any kind of confirmation. But films will go on, and I will be announcing my next project details very shortly.
The media has shamelessly tried to deviate from the issue and brought the issue of her differences with her brother as well as possible Naxal connection into the subject. Two rabid Sanghi channels, The Republic TV and Times Now, have brought her brother Indrajit on the show suggesting that there could be a Naxal angle into the case. Times Now went on to suggest that she had just put CCTV cameras at her residence a fortnight ago which means that she might have felt threatened. The problem in this case is that she had her own differences with her brother who, as we place on record, is willing to join the BJP, shown his appreciation for Narendra Modis leadership. Even when the entire Lingayat community today stands together in their attempt to get an identity separate from brahmanical Hinduism, her brother wants to go back to them. There are other things which are visible on the social media and need to be seriously looked into. It needs to be elaborated as to who were rejoicing at her killing? Who said that she was a commie as if being a Communist is a crime. Who are those who said that the Lefties are crying on the death of a bitch? When nothing works then they say, we kept quiet on the deaths of so many RSS cadres in Kerala and Karnataka. There is no doubt that many States have witnessed the political violence whether it is Kerala, Bengal, Karnataka where cadres of the parties indulge in violence but why to ignore the violence against the common people by the Hindutva- sponsored goons in the State where they are in power. How can you ignore the violence against Dalits, minorities and adivasis in the name of their food habits as well as cow protection? Secondly, the pattern of violence against Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M.M. Kalburgi and now Gauri Lankesh provide the same clue.
If anybody has doubts then one can also read the statement by sitting BJP MLA and a former Minister from Karnataka, Mr Jeevraj, who said that, Her vitriolic writings against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in her tabloid, Gauri Lankesh Patrike, might have cost journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh her life. Mr Jeevraj says that Gauri Lankesh had written a report headlined, Chaddigala Marana Homa (the slaughter of RSS). If only she had refrained from such writings, she would probably have survived. Gauri Lankesh was like my sister and she might have written against us which is acceptable in a democracy, he says. (Asian Age : http://www.asianage.com/india/all-india/070917/writing-against-rss-cost-gauri-lankesh-her-life-bjp-minister.html
While the police and investigating agencies would do their work, there is a lot for the media to introspect on this. Today, each one of them want to own Gauri for her courageous and principled stand against the Right-wing but most of them remained at high position when the newsrooms and editorial board rooms of the media became suffocating gas chambers for those like Gauri Lankesh. Frankly speaking, people like me were unaware of her writings and I am not sure how popular she was with the common middle class people in Karnataka. If she were a much-sought-after columnist who worked with various newspapers, it is because of her privileged background. She was more into social movements and against the politics of Hindutvas hateful ideology. So was she killed for being a journalist or was she killed for pursuing an agenda which the Hindutva forces felt would be an obstacle in their way.
Does it not look surprising that with 90 per cent TV channels reporting according to the wishes of Amit Shah and Narendra Modi, a few of them attempting to balance things and in the name of dissent most of them cant go beyond the Congress party or a few mainstream Left? The print is showing some dissent but the dissenters there are the core group of privileged journalists or academics of their own biradari many of whom may be socio-culturally secular but econo-mically Rightwing. How many of them had the courage to publish her article or keep her as a regular columnist in their dailies? The Hindutva is not afraid of the media because it has almost made it virtually redundant. It is not even crawling at the moment as Advani famously said during the Emergency for our media. It is now completely spineless and working as the Public Relations Agency of the ruling party but its role does not end here. It is not merely reporting news but cooking it also in their editorial offices. That is more dangerous. If a news anchor can celebrate the death or another bring new revelation on her death making her story similar to any other crime news, then it reflects how much we have lost in these three years. In the coming years, they can go further to dilute the entire issue and make it a crime sex story so that the killers who tried to silence the opponents continue to do so looking for other preys.
One is surprised that despite overwhelming percentage of electronic media and print media writing stories as per the whims and fancies of the ruling party, its leaders still want to control all forms of voices and are very disturbed with those who can unmake their agenda. This shows the power of dissent. The megalomaniac leaders, habitual of prostrating public relations officers, always fear the dissenters even if they have limited reach and that is why smaller publications based on sound convictions of freedom, social justice and socialist are far superior and influential than those who claim to represent all yet have been merely converted to providing us information. Gauri Lankesh and others like her are not in the profession to be public relations officers or supply information being generated in the newsrooms but they are among those very few who give us food for thought. It is these ideas of democratic dissent which believe in human rights of all and speak against all forms of discrimination, that is, racial, religious, caste, gender, region and physical appearance, which the dominant narratives in most of our societies consider as obstacle in their progress that has kept the hope of all the oppressed people.
Countering and challenging the carefully built and Sangh Parivar-influenced narrative of victimisation among the powerful and dominant castes in India to suit their political goals that keep the oppressed and marginalised on the toes and divide them further on their caste lines, is essential for a healthy secular socialist republican democracy. Yes, to be candid, Gauri Lankesh died for a secular democratic cause. She became victim of hatred. She did not die because she was a journalist but because she fought against the Hindutva hatred in India. There are journalists who are killed for exposing the mafias, taking on the political establishment but none spoke for them. Therefore it is important for us to understand that it is not the issue of Gauri Lankesh being a mediaperson but belonging to a particular ideology that threatens Hindutva and the Sangh Parivar.
The fact is that the Rightwing is not afraid of the media but of a counter ideology and they grew because of the political vacuum created by the Centrist parties functioning just to govern without any emphasis on the ideological perspective on issues that confront us today. The legacy of Dr Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi and now Gauri Lankesh is clearly one of humanism, reasoning, human rights and standing head on against the forces of hatred and divisiveness.
Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a Radical Humanist and a human rights activist based in Delhi.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > Myanmar : Persecution of Rohingya Muslims
by Ram Puniyani
Massive protests are being witnessed in many countries, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India among others, against the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (September 2017). This time around violence seems to have been triggered due to the attack by militants (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) on police and military posts. As per UN estimates, nearly 1000 Rohingyas have been killed and over 2.5 lakh Muslims have fled to Bangladesh to escape the violence. The UN has said that the extent of violence indicates that it is a crime against humanity. His Holiness Pope Francis said that he is following the sad news of the religious persecution of the Rohingya community... he asked that the members of the ethnic group be given full rights.
The suppression of the Muslims of the Rakhine province of Myanmar has created a grave situation. What seems to be going on is a sort of slow genocide, ethnic cleansing. India has also witnessed the protests against this suppression in many cities in India. Here in India there is an added problem as there are thousands of Rohingya Muslims living in different parts of the country and there is a demand from the Hindu Right-wingers to expel them from the country.
These Rohingya Muslims are mainly concen-trated in the Rakhine province of Myanmar. The government says that they are illegal immi-grants while their history in Mynmar is very old. As such the Muslims in Myanmar are very diverse as most of them have come from different parts of India, when Myanmar was a part of India. In particular the Rakhine province earlier had a Muslim ruler, which fact attracted many Muslims to settle there. As such it is after the military dictatorship that they have been deprived of their citizenship rights and have been the target of persecution and atrocities, particularly after the 1982 Law, which does not recognise their citizenship rights. Earlier they even had a Minister at the Cabinet level apart from many elected representatives.
The problems related to communalism have so many parallels in different South Asian countries. We see in South Asia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India that religious minorities are subjected to persecution and the pretexts are very similar. After the military dictatorship took over power in Myanmar, the fleeing of Muslims went up in large numbers and many of them came to India also. These reasons are purely humanitarian, but here in India it is being presented as if it is a security threat. Indian laws permit giving shelter to persecuted communities. As per that, the Tamils from Sri Lanka, Buddhists from Tibet and Hindus from Pakistan have been given shelter here. Since Rohingyas happen to be Muslims, the Hindu Right-wing is opposing them and has stepped up campaigns through the media to expel them. As such in India the communalists have been harping on Bangladeshi immigrants, while the fact is that most of the Muslims, being accused of being Bangladeshis, have migrated earlier through the human plantation policy of the British, which encouraged Bangladeshis (then residents of Bengal) to settle in Assam. In the aftermath of the 1971 war also many Hindus and Muslims fled Bangladesh to settle in different parts of India, depending on where they can get some opportunities to survive.
In the aftermath of 1992-93 violence, the campaign to step up the expelling of Bangldeshis from Mumbai and other cities picked up. In one of the studies done in Mumbai by Shama Dalwai and Irfan Engineer, it was found that most of the immigrants (Bengali-speaking Muslims) have been engaged in low-end employment, as maid servants, as zari workers (artisans) etc., who had been putting long hours for mere survival. In popular perception, the issue is presented as a nationalist one related to security and this has been one of the major propaganda planks around which the BJP has been making inroads in the North-Eastern States, particularly Assam.
In Myanmar, the process of democratisation is very slow and painful. The military takeover in 1962 worsened the process. The military had the strong backing of feudal elements and the many Buddhist sanghas (organised priesthood). The hold of feudal powers in Myanmar is a great obstacle for democracy to deepen itself. As in Pakistan (Military-Mullah), the hold of the sanghas and military is strong here also. In Pakistan we witness that irrespective of the democratically elected Prime Minister the military wields great power and the Military-Mullah complex keeps asserting itself, affecting the policies even of the elected representatives. In Myanmar while the major Buddhist organisation, Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, has called for a humane approach, Buddhist monks like Ashin Wirathu, very much like the Sadhvis and Sakshi Maharajas in India, are the major figures spreading hate against the Muslims. In Myanmar, the battle between these two tendencies (military and a section of the Buddhist Sangha) is strong and Prime Minister Suu Kyi is forced to yield to the military bosses and is part of the decision of supporting the inhuman military action, which is like genocide there. Suu Kyi is hankering for power rather than upholding the principles of human rights which a Nobel Laureate should do. At places campaigns are on to take back her Nobel Prize, as the Nobel Prize should stand for the defence of human rights.
In India, with the high communal polari-sation, Rohigyas being Muslims is reason enough to attribute to them the motives of militancy, and to try to link them with terrorism. These scums of the earth need a soothing touch as major humanitarian agencies are asking for justice for these persecuted people in Myanmar. In India, this is an add on issue for the Hindu communalists who have been baking their political bread in the name of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The latest in this is to try to formulate a law where the Hindu immigrants will be granted shelter while Muslim immi-grants will be expelled by the state. Narendra Modi on his recent visit to Myanmar has been silent on this crucial issue of violation of human rights for tactical and ideological reasons, that is, due to his political ideology.
The author, a retired Professor at the IIT-Bombay, is currently associated with the Centre for the Study of Secularism and Society, Mumbai.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > Gauri Lankesh, Plight of Rohingyas
MUSINGS
Gauri Lankesh shot dead in front of her Bengaluru home. Yes, murderedthis firebrand activist-writer-editor. Upright and bold and vocal she was; taking on the Right-wing political mafia in one of those ongoing and determined ways.... As Im filing this column just hours after the news of her murder, so unable to detail the possible whys but quite obviously the various goon brigades stand in the suspect category. In fact, her murder has shocked each one of us. Theres anger amongst activists and writers: Why cant we write or talk about the Right-wing mafia and the top brass... will we be all murdered, one by one, if we speak out and expose the rulers of the day?
Today strains of utter hopelessness are spreading out not just in Bengaluru but also here in New Delhi. After all, amongst the new additions in the Modi Cabinet (expanded last SundaySeptember 3, 2017) is one Ananthkumar Hedge. Yes, he is the same politician from Karnataka who was last year charged with hurting religious sentiment after he said at a press conference: As long as there is Islam in this world, there will be terrorism. He has not just a communal aspect to him but he is also known for getting violentin January he was caught on camera slapping a doctor over his mothers treatment. In the CCTV footage from the TSS hospital in Sirsi, around 400 km from Bengaluru, he was seen grabbing a doctor by the throat and slamming him against a wall. He was seen hitting the doctor. Another doctor was also assaulted by him. These doctors, who were hit by him, displayed scars and gashes.
Tell me, whats in store with such rulers!
Rohingya Refugees FearsWill be Massacred if Deported Back!
With the government of the day all set to deport thousands of the Rohingya refugees who had fled here to India from Myanmar, after facing the worst forms of brutalities in their home country, these refugees are asking: Does the Indian Government want us to be massacred... do they realise that we will be killed, if thrown back to our home country? Why did we flee and reach here? Only and only to save our lives. See our living conditions, we are living worse than animals but at least we are alive!
Yes, it will be human rights violation as these hapless men and women and children fled Myanmar in the worst of conditions and are living here in sub-human conditions; yet even that seems getting snatched from them. To quote Amnesty International India on this
Any measures taken by Indian authorities to forcibly return Rohingya refugees and asylum-seekers to Myanmar, where they are at risk of serious human rights violations, would be a flagrant violation of international law... Sending Rohingya Muslims back to Myanmarwhere the community has faced horrific abuseswould not just be a violation of Indias commitments under international law, but also a blemish on Indias history of supporting those fleeing persecution... Rohingya Muslims, who are among the most persecuted minorities in the world, have faced years of discrimination, repression and violence in Myanmar. In December 2016, Amnesty International documented a brutal campaign of violence against the Rohingya by security forces in Myanmar, which could amount to crimes against humanity. The organisation found evidence of a wide range of human rights violations in Myanmars northern Rakhine State, including unlawful killings, multiple rapes, and the burning down of hundreds of Rohingya homes and buildings. Forcing Rohingya asylum-seekers and refugees back to Myanmar would violate the international principle of non-refoule-mentwhich is recognised in customary inter-national law and is binding on Indiathat forbids states from forcibly returning people to a country where they would be at real risk of serious human rights violations. India is also a state party to other international treaties which recognise this principle, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Indian authorities know very well the abuses the Rohingya community have been facing in Myanmar. Deporting them and abandoning them to their fates would be unconscionable.
In fact, Amnesty International India has also highlighted a very significant factor. I quote
As a country aspiring to a larger global role, India needs to urgently sign the Refugee Convention and put in place a robust domestic framework to protect refugee rights...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, and does not have a domestic legal refugee protection framework. The treatment of refugees falls largely under the Foreigners Act of 1946, which makes no distinction between asylum-seekers, refugees and other foreigners. The Act makes undocumented physical presence in the country a crime. The Indian Government has mandated the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to register and provide assistance to refugees from non-neighbouring countries and Myanmar. According to UNHCR, there are around 14,000 registered Rohingya people in India, including 3000 asylum-seekers and 11,000 who have been granted refugee status by the organisation. However the Indian Government does not officially recognise these people as refugees. In February, the UN Office of the High Commi-ssioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published a report which documented the human rights violations against Rohingya people. In March, the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar presented her latest findings on human rights violations in Myanmar. Reports of the Special Rapporteur, the OHCHR, Amnesty International and other organisations have found that Rohingya women and girls have been raped, hundreds of people forcibly disappeared and an unknown number killed by security forces in Myanmar. Tens of thousands of Rohingya people have been displacedmany after their homes were burned to the ground by state security forces... In March, India, at the UN Human Rights Council, also supported through consensus the creation of an international fact-finding mission to look into human rights violations in Rakhine State.
Are the biased and politically charged barriers coming in our way from reaching out to these refuge-seekers? Today more and more Right-wing governments are hardening their stand. Sadly, even the United Nations has not been able to give the required cushioning to hundreds of refugees in deep distress, desperately looking for refuge, just about somewhere and anywhere... Whats their future and where do they go, running from one country to the next? How many perish whilst trying to flee?
Leaving you with these lines of Baba Farid Shakarganj ...
These lines of Baba Farid Shakarganj (1173-1265 AD) hold out for the administrators, politicians, cops of the dayFarid, the earth questioned the sky, Where have the mighty captains gone?
In their grave they rot, was the reply.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > Rohingya Crisis and BJP Government
EDITORIAL
Speaking at a seminar in New Delhi today Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh stated: Rohingyas are not refugees... No Rohingya has applied for asylum. They are illegal immigrants. This was his clear-cut position with regard to the Myanmarese Rohingyas who had lately entered Bangladesh while some of them had come to India earlier.
Meanwhile Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina has strongly countered Myanmars attempts to label the Rohingyas as illegal immigrants, something Rajnath was parroting without comprehending the nature and magnitude of the catastrophe that has befallen the Rohingya community. According to Hasina, historical records clearly suggested that the Rohingyas were living in the Rakhine State of Myanmar for centuries. She also affirmed on the basis of the ground reality in Myanmar that the government there was forcibly driving out the Rohingya Muslims through a planned and organised process.
Following her visit to the refugee camps in Chittagongs Coxs Bazar, she drew a clear analogy with the situation in 1971. According to her, when the Pakistani forces burned down our houses and killed our people, around 10 million people crossed the border into India. Now they (the Rohingyas) are in danger and we definitely need to give them shelter.
It is in this context that Rajnath Singhs words need to be measured. Without saying so Hasina wants India to do for the Rohingyas today what it did for the Bangladeshis in 1971. Did the Government of India delay help to the Bangladeshis entering this country at that time on the plea that it had to ascertain how many were legal refugees and how many illegal immigrants? Then why this double-standard in the case of the Rohingyas now?
Basically the answer lies in the fact that the Rohingyas are Muslims for whom the BJP/RSS members and activists have little or no sympathy. One would have witnessed a totally different attitude from the representatives of the Union Government had they been overwhelmingly Hindu in their religious persuasion.
No doubt security concerns must be addressed. But should those concerns override humanitarian considerations? And can all the civilians leaving Myanmar be described as militants?
Against this overall backdrop democratic opinion in our country must assert and force the Narendra Modi Government to adopt a humanitarian approach to this humanitarian problem without resorting to any attempt to compel the asylum-seekers back to Myanmar (where they fear they would be liquidated).
September 21 S.C.
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Equipped with a gleaming new building in one of the cities most scenic locations, Missoula College launches a bold new initiative preparing people for not only employment but a lifetime of opportunities.
After three years, and nearly $30 million, Missoula College is completely open for business in the mouth of Hellgate Canyon. The milestone comes after the pouring of tons of concrete, the erection of steel and wood, and installing state-of-the-art systems.
"Theres immense value in creating more than just even the building, the culture, where students are are aware of what their potential can be," Gov. Steve Bullock (D-MT). said.
"But long after all of us gather, years and years and years later, will be dreams being created and opportunities made because of the commitments of so many of you all here. The commitments of legislators," Gov. Bullock added. "The commitments of those in the private sector that helped create this opportunity."
By Dennis Bragg
http://www.kpax.com/story/36436762/missoula-college-praised-as-place-of-opportunity-for-decades-to-come
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"They (Hoffman) have done great work for us," Honeycutt said. "The Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development is innovating like it hasnt in decades."
By Lewis Kendall Chronicle Staff Writer
https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/business/questions-remain-after-state-renews-controversial-tourism-contract/article_9bd40010-7d0b-57b4-b987-c2c183efcaca.html
The U.S. Forest Service has disavowed a legal analysis it commissioned that showed federal land managers have given state wildlife departments more authority than they really possess.
In June, the agency asked the University of Montana to remove the draft report five days after "Fish and Wildlife Management on Federal Lands: Debunking State Supremacy" appeared on the Bolle Center for People and Forests website.
Three weeks later, it terminated a two-year contract with the center and its director, Martin Nie, citing the "provocative title" as a reason.
ROB CHANEY [email protected]
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/forest-service-tried-to-quash-paper-debunking-montana-wildlife-authority/article_2484e14d-a5c4-5ae7-82dc-4da8ee583833.html
MASON CITY | A juvenile has been charged with various traffic-related offenses after he led an Iowa State Patrol trooper on a high-speed chase Friday night, law enforcement said.
Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Dana Knutson said the chase started around 7:30 p.m. on Highway 122 near Jonquil Avenue when a trooper tried to pull over the juvenile for failure to dim headlights.
The chase continued for about three to four minutes, Knutson said, reaching speeds of over 100 mph.
The trooper used a pit maneuver to stop the juvenile's vehicle, a 2000 silver Hyundai, around Eisenhower Avenue, he added. No injuries were reported, and the juvenile surrendered to law enforcement.
Knutson would not release any information about the juvenile or the juvenile's charges.
Juvenile court records are now confidential unless they involve a forcible felony, such as murder, kidnapping or robbery. The law went into effect in July 2016.
However, police are allowed to provide non-identifying, basic information, which includes criminal charges and the age of the juvenile.
MASON CITY | Nicole Marsh has lived on the 100 block of Fifth Street Northeast for the past five years. And in that time, she's seen some crazy stuff happening in and near the boarded-up house next door.
One time, she believes a bathtub was thrown out of a second-floor window. Tree branches have fallen on one of her neighbor's cars. She's also called police when she's found needles in the backyard.
And ultimately, she's nervous about people "squatting" in nearby boarded-up homes.
"They think boarding these houses is going to help, and it's not," said Marsh, 40. "I have a 7-year-old boy, and this is scaring me."
Marsh was talking about 108 Fifth St. N.E., a property overgrown with vegetation and has its front door and some windows boarded up. It's one of three houses boarded up on the block, with another one closed off at 117 Sixth St. N.E.
This past week, the Globe Gazette spoke with city officials and neighbors to examine the current status of the properties. It's unclear what the future of some of them are, but all have been inhabitable at least three years.
Mark Laurenz, pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, said all four properties 108, 122 and 130 Fifth Street N.E., along with 117 Sixth St. N.E., have been boarded for between three to six years.
Laurenz, who also helps run the attached Sunbeam Christian Childcare and Preschool, added that the neighborhood isn't a bad one, but wishes more action was taken on the four properties in question.
"If we make the sidewalks nice, why not tear down the houses?" he said.
One of the properties, 130 Fifth St. N.E., is currently owned by Russ Hardy. Hardy, who said he has owned the rental house for a couple years, said it is "in rehab," and hopes it can be rented out to tenants by late November or early December.
He added he isn't concerned about the other nearby boarded-up properties, because with enough work, they can all be made inhabitable.
"When these apartments are finished and are pleasant places to live ... they will rent in spite of boarded-up houses nearby," he said of his property.
According to city property records, the other three properties in question are owned by Thomas and Cassandra Rattay. The Rattays could not be reached for comment Friday when a Globe reporter knocked on their door.
Ray Quayle, Mason City's rental housing inspector, said the three buildings on the 100 block of Fifth Street Northeast had been white-tagged at least three years ago, meaning they are "uninhabitable." That is determined by looking at any structural issues, possible bed bugs, or any other health and safety issues that may arise, he added.
More specifically, 108 Fifth St. N.E. has been boarded up for at least five years, according to Quayle.
He admitted that "squatters" getting into the boarded-up buildings is an issue, but that demolition of the houses is hard to pursue given the rights property owners have.
"The problem is sometimes the banks aren't cooperative with getting these things done," Quayle said of the process of demolition. "Again, no matter what, people still have rights, and they're going to exercise them."
Steven Van Steenhuyse, Mason City's development services department director, said property owners have constitutional rights, and that as long as some improvements are made and the building is safe to the public, city officials don't have much power to pursue demolition.
Currently, the city uses the 1997 Uniform Code for Abatement of Dangerous Properties to determine whether a building should be demolished, according to Steenhuyse. He added officials have been examining that and other city codes for the past two years, and they are looking at adopting a newer international property code.
"If it's started to deteriorate where pieces of it could fall on the sidewalk, then we could take action," Steenhuyse said about a possible demolition scenario. "But as long as it's safe and secure, we can't do anything about it."
Those who live and work in the neighborhood, however including Lavrenz and Marsh express concerns in just letting properties sit vacant, ranging from the neighborhood's general appearance to possible safety issues.
Lavrenz added, however, that the city has a large workload in terms of these types of properties.
"They have to deal with flooded homes and other areas," he said. "They have taken down a lot of houses in the past two years."
Not everyone, however, is convinced. Marsh said the problem is not restricted to her street, and is indicative of a more important issue.
"Mason City is dying, if you want my honest opinion," she said. "The town's very run-down, and it's a problem."
A gunman opened fire at a church in Antioch, Tennessee, on Sunday, killing one person and wounding six others, according to a spokesman for the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. An eighth victim was "pistol whipped," police said.
"This is a mass casualty situation," the Nashville Fire Department said in a tweet. "All of the wounded have been transported to area hospitals. The majority are older adults."
The shooting occurred at the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch, a neighborhood in Davidson County governed by Nashville.
The MNPD said it received the first call of multiple shots fired at 11:15 a.m. CT.
The gunman arrived at the church's parking lot as a prayer service was letting out, said Don Aaron, spokesman for the police department.
The gunman, described by police as a man in his mid-20s, shot and killed a woman who was walking to her car before entering the church, Aaron said.
He then fired "multiple rounds" at people in the building, Aaron said. Six people were wounded by gunfire and another was pistol whipped, he added.
One parishioner who witnessed the shooting inside the church "ran up and confronted" the gunman, Aaron said. During a struggle, the gunman mistakenly shot himself, Aaron said.
The suspect is being treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center under police guard. "It is our belief that the gunman's condition is not life-threatening," Aaron said.
All of the victims have been taken to area hospitals, he added.
Police said the investigation into the shooting is ongoing. Agents from the FBI's Memphis field office are on the scene providing assistance to local law enforcement, an FBI spokesperson told CNN.
CNN's Mary Kay Mallonee contributed to this report.
Walk through the north door of the Nebraska state capitol and you'll see a motto carved in stone over the doorway: "The Salvation of the State is Watchfulness in the Citizen."
A series of stories by the Associated Press to be released Sunday indicates that lawmakers nationwide are chipping away at that motto, in the name of fear, security or simple expediency.
In Arkansas, lawmakers passed a resolution marking the 50th anniversary of the Freedom of Information Act, then passed a law preventing public access to information about the Capitol police force, those of universities or school security plans.
Nebraska lawmakers sought to keep secret the identity of suppliers of lethal-injection drugs, California rushed through a measure keeping dam safety emergency action plans secret, and Texas considered a plan to keep public records secret from anyone who didn't live in Texas.
The Iowa House passed a bill to keep many 911 calls secret by calling them "medical records" after the AP used open records laws to write about gun-related accidents, but the law died in the Senate.
Iowa lawmakers did pass a law keeping secret detailed annual financial statements of the state's 19 licensed casinos, records that had been public for decades.
Florida passed a law requiring records of criminal charges that result in acquittal or dismissal to be automatically sealed, and Kansas proposed a law that would keep the state database of fired police officers secret after a Wichita television station exposed the backgrounds of officers with checkered pasts, including a chief facing federal investigation.
Even more ominously, some agencies have resorted to suing people who make requests for public records, examples include an Oregon parent who wanted details about school employees paid to stay home, a retired educator seeking data about student performance in Louisiana, and college journalists in Kentucky seeking documents about investigations of employees accused of sexual misconduct.
Instead of the information, they received notices that they were being sued by the agency receiving the request, contending release of information would deny employees due process.
Our reporters have found information more difficult to obtain with the switch from paper records to computerized files either through technical difficulties in viewing the actual files, unaffordable expense or other hindrances.
And, suggestions that the City Council and other local government bodies do away with the three-reading rule are alarming.
Professional journalists will continue to do their part, but in the end, it truly is the watchfulness of the average citizen, insisting on timely release of appropriate, accurate information, that will be the salvation of the state.
Photo by Darren McGee- Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
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WASHINGTON - Dominique Hill and Irving Smith Jr. had good jobs.
Last year, Hill worked as a bartender at P.F. Chang's in Tysons Corner (Virginia) and Smith had recently been promoted to bartender at Wildfire grill, also in Tysons. Each had more than a decade of experience working in restaurants and was making $700 to $900 a week.
But last summer both of them walked away from their jobs for a chance at something better: the opportunity to work at BLT Prime, the steakhouse in the luxury Trump International Hotel, Washington, District of Columbia.
The couple said they soon discovered their hopes were misplaced. In a civil complaint filed Wednesday morning in D.C. Superior Court, Hill, a former BLT employee, and Smith, a current one, allege that the Trump Organization and hotel managing director Mickael Damelincourt saw to it that the restaurant routinely steered black employees to less lucrative shifts and subjected them to discriminatory behavior by other staff and by guests. The two men are joined in the case by another former BLT employee, JaNette Sturdivant.
Hill said he was the first bartender the restaurant hired last summer, before the hotel opened, but was almost exclusively given only lunch shifts.
"Some days I would just stand there all day long and have no customers," he said. He routinely made $300-$400 for a 30- to 35-hour workweek at BLT. He claims only four black employees still work at BLT after the hotel opened with 15 or more.
Smith, who works as a BLT server, said he was demoted to assistant server early on and rarely given prime shifts, where weekly earnings averaged $600-$1,500 and which allegedly went instead to newly hired white and Latino employees.
"They started hiring all these people and instead of putting them on day shifts they was giving them night shifts and keeping us on day shift. Next thing I know, within the month all the black people were on the day shift," he said.
In a statement, the Trump Organization, which runs the hotel, called the allegations "utterly baseless," particularly because "the Hotel never employed these individuals."
"Rather, the plaintiffs worked for a third-party restaurant company that is solely responsible for the direction, supervision, and management of its own employees. In short, this lawsuit appears to be nothing more than a desperate, politically-motivated publicity stunt. We look forward to litigating this matter," said Amanda Miller, a spokeswoman for f the Trump Organization in a statement.
ESquared Hospitality, which operates the restaurant, said it "wholeheartedly" disputed the allegations and that the employees "did not previously voice or file complaints through any of the proper channels."
"Had they done so, BLT Prime would have immediately taken the alleged complaints seriously and investigated them to the fullest extent and would have taken appropriate action where warranted," the company said.
Trump opened the hotel last fall, weeks before he was elected president. He no longer runs his company and has placed his ownership into a trust, but the family name still adorns everything from the sign out front to the cocktail napkins. After the election, Smith claimed one of his co-workers began making racist statements to him and that Smith's complaints to management fell on deaf ears.
"He used to say 'This is white America time, you need to get used to it, and if you don't get used to it you should go work somewhere else,'" he alleged.
The lawsuit's allegations about the restaurant stand in contrast to the operation of the larger hotel, whose is widely diverse by race, gender and nationality. On a busy Friday night in September, when the hotel unveiled a new dessert menu, staff who appeared to be black worked in prominent positions as bartender, hostess, server, valet and other posts.
A reporter observing six shifts of morning, afternoon and evening work at BLT, viewed staffs that appeared to be diverse as well, although evening bartenders appeared to usually be white. "We work diligently to create a culture of equal opportunity employment with a zero-tolerance policy for any kind of discrimination regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or otherwise," ESquared said in its statement.
Gregg Greenberg, a Maryland employment attorney, said racial discrimination cases are often difficult to prove.
"If you have a client that says, 'I have been discriminated against,' how and why are you able to prove it? Do you have emails or policies in place that are objectively discriminatory? Or do you just have the feeling that someone there is out for you?" he said.
Smith and Hill, unlike most workers in the hotel, were not employed directly by the Trump Organization but by ESquared. Hill produced paperwork showing that in March he filed a discrimination charge with the D.C. Office of Human Rights and underwent mediation in July with attorneys for ESquared.
When that failed, he filed suit with representation from A.J. Dhali, a D.C. attorney who said he has brought nearly 100 employment cases in his career and averages 15 to 18 annually.
Dhali argued the Trump Organization had control over the BLT employees' employment because of the nature of the management contract between the hotel and ESquared. Whether other black employees were treated well or not was not the issue for the court to consider, he said.
"I don't have to show that discrimination occurred against everybody. I just have to show that discrimination occurred against my clients," Dhali said. The plaintiffs are seeking $14.5 million in damages.
Hill and Smith, a gay couple, said they have both experienced discrimination in other restaurant jobs. Smith said guests at Wildfire once informed management they did not want a black or gay server. "Management asked them to leave," he said. He said management at Clyde's issued the same directive when necessary, but that at BLT, he said he had twice observed guests requesting service from nonblack staff who were allowed to stay. The suit cites other allegedly racist behavior by some guests, and it describes a working environment where, for instance, a staff memo posted in the kitchen details how the staff ought to handle $39 ostrich eggs for a dish that includes a photo of an ostrich chasing a black man.
The third plaintiff, Sturdivant, 34, a black woman who worked at BLT from May to June as a server, claimed she was complimented on her light skin after arriving.
"When I first came on board . . . the server manager said it's good to see someone with Milano complexion here," she said. Still, she said she was not given "moneymaking" night shifts.
Hill said he was fired after dropping a Bloody Mary on a baby in a stroller at a weekend brunch. But he said a white server who spilled a bottle of champagne down a bride's dress and was not suspended or fired.
"I kept saying, why am I being terminated? Why can't I be suspended or transferred? . . . My feeling was Mickael, who was right there, was letting me go from the company." After being fired he said he was without work for six weeks and had his cable and electricity cut off in his apartment. Smith lost his car because he could not make the payments.
Smith said he took a second restaurant job to pay his bills and works about 60 hours a week.
"I would go to work crying and ask god why are you doing this? We were so comfortable and gave up everything to go to this place. And then to be treated like this."
A lounge boasting Indian tapas, hookah, and vibrant cocktails has arrived in Murray Hill. Tapa, led by restaurateur Abishek Sharma (Swagat, Surya, Badshah), opened on September 14th, and explores Indian flavors while pointing an eye towards the communal dining, drinking and smoking experience.
The restaurant has a "bread bar" with eight varieties of naan. One of its highlights is Prime Time, which comes topped with rib-eye steak, cheddar, Monterey jack, and mozzarella, and is served with a chipotle dipping sauce. Another option, Eat Your Veggies, combines mushrooms, olives, and truffle oil, and is topped with either marinara or mint sauce. This is fully loaded naan.
The restaurant's tapas portion of the menu will serve Agni Wings, which can be prepared in the hot "Want To Cry" style or in the more tame butter-chicken style; calamari marinated in Indian masala; and "Badass Chicken Tikka," which is coated with spices, yogurt, and jalapenos.
A post shared by Tapa Lounge (@tapaloungenyc) on May 11, 2017 at 10:36pm PDT
The lounge also offers more than 40 hookah flavors, sorted in categories dubbed "house," "exotic," and "exclusive." Cocktails include creations Sari Not Sari (tequila, lime, cucumber, mint, salted rim) and Flight to Mumbai (gin, lime juice, cardamom).
102 Lexington Avenue; 646-657-0512; @tapaloungenyc
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...
BAY CITY - Re-enactors and visitors alike braved 90-degree temperatures and humidity Saturday to bring an annual amalgamation of historic events to the banks of the Saginaw River.
The annual River of Time began with an educational day on Friday, but Saturday's festivities brought the action, with blank-fire skirmishes, WWII airplane flyovers, cannonfire and a naval battle between a Confederate-flag-bearing Appledore IV and an army of reenactors on the shore at Veterans Park.
Tonight, visitors can view a night-firing of the Civil War-era cannon at 7:30 p.m. followed by a candlelight tour. Sunday will feature a WWII skirmish at 2 p.m. - a first for the event.
Reenactors run the gamut from the customary Abraham Lincoln reading the Gettysburg address to a sizeable detachment of Nazi Germany's Waffen-SS. Refreshments came in the form of handmade, cork-bottled root beer from Little John's Sarsaparilla and Root Beer as well as the Civil War-era Emerald Peacock Saloon.
Event Chairwoman Jan Rau said she was proud to see the re-enactors share their passionate pastime through the heat.
"It's not a hobby" Rau said, pointing out that a uniform of full Civil War regalia, weapons and personal effects can easily cost each reenactor more than $2,000. "It's a love of history."
As much as they love history, Rau points out, the reenactors also enjoy "playing guns." She offered the ragtag group of reenactors armed with everything from muskets to machineguns exchanging fire with the Appledore IV as an example of the group taking a few liberties in the name of fun.
"You're not going to read a book about how they used to use wooden bowls and spoons and remember that," Rau said. "You're going to remember something you can feel and touch."
Opinion
Destination Sharjah
The 41st Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) concluded on Sunday. It was a wonderful opportunity for the people of the UAE to see some of the best brains of the earth here in Sharjah. This was the 15th edition I have attended with my children. With each passing year, SIBF is growing better and better. Lots of visitors had great time meeting with great talents. I felt good to see so many young guys and girls taking interest in the book fair.
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The 29th Annual General Meeting of the Company was held on Saturday, September 23, 2017 at 10.45 a.m. at S. K. Somani Memorial Hall, Hindi Vidya Bhawan, 79 - Marine Drive, F road, Mumbai - 400020.In compliance with SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, we hereby submit the following:1.Proceeding of the 29th Annual General Meeting of the Company. (Annexure 'A')2.Details regarding the voting results of 29th Annual General Meeting of the Company. (Annexure 'B')3.The Scrutinizer's Report dated September 23, 2017 submitted by Mr. S. S. Rauthan, Proprietor of M/s. S.S. Rauthan & Associates, on the e-voting and poll process conducted for the resolutions at the 29th Annual General Meeting. (Annexure 'C')The resolution has been passed unanimously.Source : BSE
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Q28. X was conceived by three friendsScott Seamans, George Boedecker, and Lyndon Hansonon a trip in the Caribbean, when Seaman showed his friends the extraordinary slip-resistant clog he was wearing; learning that it was made by a Canadian company called "Foam Creations," the friends spotted an opportunity. The name of the company is derived from the snout of a reptile. Identify X?
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Fresh from its recent IPO success, Cochin Shipyard (CSL) is now setting sail to newer shores as it looks to set up ship-building and repair facilities in Andaman and Nicobar, Gujarat, Kolkata and Mumbai. This was disclosed by Union Shipping, Road Transport, Highways and Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari in an interview to PTI.
"We are expanding Cochin Shipyard. We will have ship-building and repair facilities in Andaman and Nicobar, Gujarat and Mumbai. World-class ship repair and ship-building should be there. Ships should be built with new technologies. The process is on," Gadkari said.
An agreement with Andaman and Nicobar has been formalised to this effect, Gadkari said. The state-owned firm, a leading player in the ship- building and repair industry, saw its initial public offering (IPO) getting oversubscribed as many as 75 times last month.
CSL is building four passenger-cumcargo vessels for the Andaman and Nicobar administration under the Make in India initiative and as per orders placed by the administration, two of these will have a capacity of 500 persons-cum-150 tonne cargo and the remaining two 1,200 persons-cum-1,000 tonne. The ships are built at a cost of about Rs 1,500 crore.
"Besides the agreement with Andaman and Nicobar, we are giving Kolkata's Hooghly dock to them (CSL). They will make new barges," the minister said. CSL plans to build a Rs 100-crore facility on the shore of the Hooghly in Kolkata for construction of vessels for inland water transport.
Gadkari said, "We have tied up with a German company. We are changing designs so that same capacity barge with same engine can carry 4,000-5,000 tonne of cargo instead of early 2,000 tonne. We are trying to tie up with international companies so that we can use methanol."
CSL Chairman Madhu S Nair told PTI that CSL, in line with the shipping ministry's and the government's road map, has been in talks with major port trusts for ship repair facilities.
According to Nair, the company is lining up Rs 3,100 crore over the next five years for capacity expansion in ship-building and repair. It also plans to create an international ship repair facility within the yard, for which it has already leased a 42-acre plot from the Cochin Port Trust.
CSL is the only shipyard in India that can build up to 110,000 DWT (deadweight tonnes) with a track record of making tankers, bulk carriers, port crafts and passenger vessels, among others. Currently, it is into constructing platform supply vessels for exports and aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy.
It is also the only shipyard in the country which can fix vessels up to 125,000 DWT, besides being the only yard that can repair an air defence ship. India's first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, is in its final stage of construction at CSL.
CSL completed its landmark IPO in August, which was a smashing hit, attracting more than Rs 1.11 lakh crore as against the offer size of Rs 1,442 crore. Parts of the IPO proceeds will be utilised for expansion projects of the state-run entity, the government has said.
CSL, under the shipping ministry, was listed on the BSE and the NSE on August 11 this year. The PSU had clocked revenue of Rs 2,059 crore in 2016-17, with ship-building operations accounting for 74 percent and repair the rest. Its profit after tax was Rs 312 crore.
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Private sector life insurer IndiaFirst is eyeing Rs 50-crore net profit this fiscal, driven by significant growth in its new business premium besides retention of the existing customers.
The company, a joint venture between British multinational Legal & General and two state-run lenders - Bank of Baroda and Andhra Bank - had posted Rs 35 crore profit last fiscal.
"The company achieved a net profit of Rs 35 crore for the fiscal 2017 and now we are looking at increasing it to Rs 50 crore by March 2018," IndiaFirst Life Insurance managing director and chief executive R M Vishakha told PTI.
She said the company is working on a multi-pronged strategy to achieve the target and added that an expected increase in new business premium and retention of the existing policyholders will help in the profit growth.
The private sector life insurer intends to leverage the distribution channels introduced by regulator Irdai and is currently working on products which can be sold through POS (point of sale) and/or common service centres.
After the soft launch of one such product 'Insurance Khata' recently, the firm plans its pan-India roll out by November.
In terms of individual new business premium or annual premium equivalent (APE) year-to-date (YTD) in August, IndiaFirst Life grew 120 percent as against the industry expansion of 26 percent, Vishakha said.
"We intend to continue to maintain above average industry growth rate in future too," she said.
The individual new business annual premium equivalent of the company grew 120 percent to Rs 189 crore YTD on August- end. Similarly, total new business APE premium grew 72 percent to Rs 207 crore on August-end, she added.
Talking about the product mix the company has got at present, Vishakha said that Ulip comprises 50 percent of the total retail space.
There is also a focus on increasing protection through group term policies.
So far, the company has insured 54,000 lives under group insurance products for the staff of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, she said.
A vendor waits for customers as he sells rice at a market in Kolkata September 23, 2010. India's food price index rose 15.46 percent in the year to September 11, government data on Thursday showed. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri (INDIA - Tags: AGRICULTURE BUSINESS) - RTXSK2L
India's rice output is likely to fall by 1.9 million tonnes (MT) to 94.48 MT in kharif season this year on account of poor rain as well as floods, official sources said.
The production of pulses and coarse cereals is estimated to have fallen, dragging the overall foodgrains output in kharif (summer-sown) season to 134.67 MT from record 138.52 MT in last kharif, as per the sources.
Kharif foodgrain basket comprises rice, pulses and coarse cereals. Harvesting will start from next month.
Barring sugarcane, the production of all major kharif crops is likely to decline.
The Union Agriculture Ministry will release its first advance estimate on Monday.
Rice ouptut is estimated to fall at 94.48 MT in the kharif season of the 2017-18 crop year (July-June) from the record 96.39 MT in last kharif, the official who did not wish to be named said. Pulses output could drop to 8.71 MT from the record 9.42 MT due to depressed prices and poor rains. The production of tur and urad are pegged at 3.99 MT and 2.53 MT, respectively. Coarse cereals output is also seen lower at 31.49 MT against 32.71 MT in last kharif season.
Among cash crops, cotton output is estimated to be slightly lower at 32.27 million bales (of 170 kg each) in the 2017-18 crop year (July-June) from 33.09 million bales.
However, sugarcane output might rise to 337.69 million tonnes from 306.72 million tonnes.
Oilseeds output is estimated to be down at 20.68 MT in the kharif season of this year from 22.40 MT in the year-ago period. Soyabean output has been pegged at 12.22 MT.
The fall in kharif output is attributed to dry spell as well as floods in some parts of the country.
The overall southwest monsoon, crucial for rain-fed kharif crops, was projected normal, but till first week of this month it was less by five per cent.
Assam, Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan witnessed floods, while parts of Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu faced dry spell.
The kharif output estimates might be revised later taking feedback from states. The ministry releases four estimates before the final one at different stages of harvesting.
Delhi High Court
The Delhi High Court has told a popular fluorescent lamp (CFL) manufacturer that if it cannot meet the e-waste collection targets set by the government, then it should correspondingly reduce the number of units it puts in the market.
"If you cannot collect that much (the numbers specified by the government), then do not put in that much (in the market)," Justice Vibhu Bakhru told the company, Philips Lighting India.
The court's observation came while hearing Philips' plea challenging the target fixed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for collection of e-waste, like compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), by it in 2017-18.
The company later withdrew its plea opposing the government's July 12 order fixing the targets for collection.
The July 12 order of the CPCB had fixed a target of 5,330 tonne or 39 million CFLs and mercury containing lamps, which would be discarded by consumers in 2017-18, for the company to collect and dispose of.
The company had claimed that the target was impossible to meet as the consumer would decide whether to discard the bulbs or CFLs. It had also said that the target fixed by the CPCB was 30 percent of its production.
It said it cannot compel a consumer to return the CFLs or other mercury bulbs to it before the product fails to perform and hence, the term 'end of life' as defined in the government's e-waste management rules was vague.
Under the rules, 'end of life' of product has been defined to mean "when the product is intended to be discarded by the consumer", the company had said in its plea.
The court, however, did not accept this argument either and said that it has not seen any advertisement informing consumers to deposit bulbs for collection. It said that the advertisements were only focussed on selling products.
Stating that the first phase of the much-delayed Navi Mumbai airport project will "commence" by December 2019, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said his government would issue a letter of intent (LoI) as awarding the contract is a "matter of time" now.
He also said the pre-developmental works for the ambitious project will be completed by May next year.
The CM's statement assumes significance as award of the LoI is considered as an important step in taking the project forward, which is dogged by inordinate delays since its conception in 1997.
Infrastructure major GVK Group had bagged the financial bid to build and operate the second international airport in the Mumbai metropolitan region at an investment of Rs 16,000 crore earlier this year, beating rival GMR Group.
However, the project couldn't make any progress as the state government has not yet approved and finalised the finance deal won by the GVK. Once the government gives its nod, a letter of award will be given to the contractor, after which a special purpose vehicle (SPV) can be set up to execute the project.
"There are two phases of the Navi Mumbai airport. One phase is the pre-works in which you have to level the land, cut a hill and you have to change the course of the river. So these are the pre-development works which we have awarded the contract and they have already started the work.
"So possibly the site with the pre-development works will be ready by May next year. The concessionaire for (the airport) is also nearly shortlisted. It is a matter of time that we will award the contract. We will issue the letter of intent to the concessionaire and what is intended is that the first phase of the Navi Mumbai airport should commence by December 2019," Fadnavis told reporters on the sidelines of "ISB Leadership Summit" organised by the Indian School of Business here.
The project has faced inordinate delays over the issues of environment and land acquisition since the state government approved it in 2007.
The project will be carried out on a public-private partnership (PPP) model and Cidco (City and Industry Development Corporation), a government authority for city planning, will incur pre-development work costs, which it will be later recovered from GVK.
Interestingly, a CAPA Global Strategy Report for July-August, 2017, had recently stated that the airport is unlikely to commence operations before March 2024, as significant earthworks need to be performed at the site, located in Raigad district adjoining Mumbai.
Meanwhile, replying to a query, Fadnavis said his government had requested the Centre to differentiate between smaller and bigger states in allotting the "ease of doing business" ranking.
"What we have requested the DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) is to slightly differentiate between the large states and the small states. Having said that, we will aim that we should be a leading state (in the ranking). That we will achieve this year," the CM said.
He said the new GST (Goods and Services Tax) regime could have some hiccups initially, but his government is capable of achieving the targets.
On the recent torrential rains that led to flooding of roads in Mumbai, the chief minister said the pumping network to flush out water into sea has begun and 60 per cent of the work has been completed.
He refused to take questions on the Shiv Sena, the belligerent partner of the ruling BJP which has recently indicated to pull out of the coalition government.
Earlier in his address to ISB students, Fadnavis underlined the need to shift people from agriculture to other sectors, as 50 percent of people in Maharashtra are dependent on agriculture.
"Agriculture does not have the capacity to consume (to sustain) 50 percent of people. We need to shift 15-20 percent of people to other sectors of economy..to service sector...to industries sector, and we have started doing that," he said.
Fadnavis said Maharashtra registered a 15.5 percent growth in agriculture, which was on a downward spiral, after he took over as chief minister three years ago.
More haste, less speed. However, in this case, a blunder.
In the haste to attack India at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) after Sushma Swarajs speech accusing Pakistan of spreading terrorism, Pakistan committed a blunder.
Maleeha Lodhi exposes true face of India by calling it "Mother of Terrorism" in her UN speechhttps://t.co/TpSPh5LcCQ pic.twitter.com/CbLojolIZR
Times of lsIamabad (@TimesofIslambad) September 24, 2017
Its permanent representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, erroneously displayed a picture of a grievously injured woman during the Gaza war in an attempt to show the face of Indian democracy.
Lodhi tried to pass off the victim as being a Kashmiri woman who was injured in pellet firing by Indian security forces. The picture which she confidently displayed is actually of 17-year-old Rawya Abu Joma who was injured when two Israeli airstrikes hit her familys apartment in Gaza during the 2014 war, as per Outlook Indias report.
Lodhi, while brandishing the picture, accused Narendra Modi of killing Muslims in Gujarat. She exclaimed, This, Mr President, is the face of Indias democracy," adding that the largest democracy was also the largest hypocrisy in the world.
Earlier, Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj had slammed Pakistan by accusing it of only producing terrorists since independence.
IRB Infrastructure Developers | In 2020 so far, the share price has moved up 76 percent to Rs 131.20. It's trailing twelve months (TTM) P/E was 6.40 multiple while 5-year average P/E was 8.30 multiple.
The two-day Correct North East (NE) summit has recommended connectivity led infrastructure revolution in the region, developing NE Ring Road, North East Implementation Agency and High Powered NE Economic Forum.
The recommendations were part of the 'Nagaland Declaration' of the summit organised by The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and jointly supported by Union Ministries of External Affairs, Road Transport and Highways and Development of North East Region.
It was hosted by Nagaland government which concluded at NBCC Convention Centre on Saturday.
As the way forward, the summit emphasised on the need to setup a North East Implementation Agency to handle funding of the projects and also put together a team for hands-on monitoring of each project.
The primary objective of the agency will be to streamline implementation and ensure timely completion of projects including development of roads and highways, inland water transport, power, airports, etc.
It will also work towards opening up connectivity routes with the neighbouring countries including Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, the summit recommended.
The High Powered NE Economic Forum comprised of the Chief Ministers, ministers and other relevant stakeholders could act as a think tank for synchronising planning and efforts for development of the NE Region, especially with respect to connectivity, the summit suggested.
It also recommended that a NE ring road should be developed connecting all the north eastern states which will run parallel to the international borders and would enable border logistics in a way never before possible.
The proposed road would cover distance of around 4,000 km and could mostly follow existing road alignments wherever possible.
On the connectivity led infrastructure resolution in NE Region, the summit proposed that all state capitals in NE need four-lane road connectivity. In order to attract investments, the summit felt that the internal infrastructure of a state including roads, bridges and amenities centre have to be upgraded rapidly.
The recommendations were presented in the concluding session of the summit by Chairman Ficci-NEAC Ranjit Barthakur.
The fifth Connect North East Summit will be held in Arunachal Pradesh in 2018.
Representative image
A shallow 3.5-magnitude earthquake which hit North Korea near the country's nuclear test site on Saturday was likely an aftershock from the hermit state's missile test on September 3, a nuclear test ban watchdog and other experts said.
Lassina Zerbo, executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO), tweeted the quake was "unlikely Man-made! Similar to 'collapse' event 8.5 mins after DPRK6", a reference to the second tremor that followed the September 3 test.
"The most probable hypothesis at present is that this is a consequence of the previous event, which was of a significant magnitude and may still have repercussions in a fracture zone," Zerbo told AFP.
The China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC), which initially spoke of a "suspected explosion," also said it believed Saturday's tremor was not the result of a fresh test, Xinhua news agency reported after the China Earthquake Administration, of which CENC is a part, studied infrasonic data of the latest quake.
The CENC said the epicentre was at 41.36 degrees north latitude and 129.06 degrees east latitude, similar to another quake on September 3 after the North Korean nuclear test that day.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted the Korea Meteorological Agency (KMA) as saying "there is no possibility that this could be an artificial quake."
The quake came after days of increasingly bellicose rhetoric between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's regime, as international alarm mounts over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake struck around 20 km away from the North's nuclear test site, where earlier this month Pyongyang detonated its sixth and largest device, which it claimed was a hydrogen bomb capable of being launched on a missile.
"This event occurred in the area of the previous North Korean Nuclear tests. We cannot conclusively confirm at this time the nature (natural or human-made) of the event. The depth is poorly constrained and has been held to five km by the seismologist," USGS said in a statement.
The North's last test, on September 3, was the country's most powerful detonation, triggering a much stronger 6.3-magnitude quake that was felt across the border in China.
A second tremor soon after that test was possibly caused by a "cave-in", CENC said at the time.
The test prompted global condemnation, leading the United Nations Security Council to unanimously adopt new sanctions that include restrictions on oil shipments.
A UN-backed monitoring group said analysts were investigating today's quake.
The strength of the quake was much lower than the tremors registered during any of North Korea's previous nuclear tests, including its first detonation in 2006, which triggered a 4.1-magnitude quake.
Social media users in China said they "felt nothing" when today's quake hit, while Russia's weather forecasting service said radiation levels were normal following the tremor, according to a report by the Interfax news agency.
The quake came at the end of a week that saw a blistering war of words between Kim and Trump, with the US leader using his maiden speech at the UN General Assembly to warn that Washington would "totally destroy" the North if America or its allies were threatened.
The North, which says it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself against the threat of a US invasion, responded on Friday with a rare personal rebuke from Kim, who called Trump "mentally deranged" and threatened the "highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history".
Tens of thousands of North Koreans gathered in Pyongyang on Saturday to applaud the regime's stance, their fists clenched as speakers repeated Kim's denigration of Trump as a "dotard".
Such set-piece rallies, organised by the authorities, are a regular feature of political life in Pyongyang, and analysts say Kim is exploiting Trump's angry commentary to reinforce his leadership.
Ri Il Ung, a 24-year-old university student who attended the rally, said: "Trump is a warmonger and a backstreet gangster." "It's quite ridiculous that such a person could become a politician," he said.
Washington announced tougher restrictions on Friday aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programme, building on tough new UN sanctions aimed at choking Pyongyang of cash.
Russia and China have both appealed for an end to the escalating rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang.
But on the fringes of the UN meeting this week, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho upped the tensions further, telling reporters Pyongyang might now consider detonating a hydrogen bomb outside its territory.
Monitoring groups estimate that the nuclear test conducted in North Korea earlier this month had a yield of 250 kilotons, which is 16 times the size of the US bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.
Hydrogen bombs, or H-bombs, are thermonuclear weapons far more powerful than ordinary fission-based atomic bombs, and use a nuclear blast to generate the intense temperatures required for fusion to take place.
Talks to update the North American Free Trade Agreement intensified on Saturday although US negotiators looked set to once again withhold proposals for one of the Trump administration's most challenging issues.
Teams from the United States, Mexico and Canada kicked off the third of seven planned rounds of discussions in Ottawa amid warnings from trade experts that time was quickly running out to seal a deal by the end of the year as planned.
One key issue is the US desire to strengthen rules of origin for autos, which dictate how much of a vehicle's components must originate from within North America to qualify for tax free status.
The American side did not mention a specific goal in the first two rounds and Canada's chief NAFTA negotiator on Saturday said he did not think the United States would provide more details during the Ottawa round.
"We're not expecting that, no," Steve Verheul told reporters, predicting the pace of the talks would nonetheless quicken.
According to a schedule of the talks obtained by Reuters, rules of origin will be discussed on Tuesday and Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump wants more US content in autos, citing trade deficits of USD 64 billion with Mexico and USD 11 billion with Canada. Trump, who says NAFTA is weighted against his country, has threatened to walk away from the agreement.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Canadian Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, said late on Friday he felt it was too early for detailed rule of origin proposals given that US officials were still talking to the domestic industry.
"It's fine for us if they take a little longer so we all understand what our interests are and we make the right deal. We don't need an early deal," he said.
US chief negotiator John Melle said ahead of the talks that his team would introduce the difficult provisions in Ottawa talks that are due to last for five days.
Another tricky issue is labor, given complaints from US and Canadian unions that Mexico's low wages give it a manufacturing advantage.
The United States is also expected to present proposals on intellectual property and investment, sources with knowledge of discussions said. Other areas of disagreement include dispute settlement mechanisms.
Canadian and Mexican officials, as well as US businesses, have already rejected a proposal by Washington to include a five-year sunset provision in the updated agreement, saying it added uncertainty to investment planning.
Kim Jong Un
Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday attacking North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho's comment about him during the United Nations General Assembly Meet.
Ri Yong-ho called Donald Trump a "mentally deranged" leader and said targeting the US mainland with its rockets was inevitable after Mr. Evil President Donald Trump called Kim Jong-un a rocket man," a Reuters report said.
Soon after the insults were exchanged in the Meet, North Korea held a large anti-US rally in its capital city Pyongyangs Kim Il Sung Square, supporting their leader Kim Jong-un.
The marchers, including workers, officials and students carried signs with slogans saying decisive revenge and death to the American imperialists and shouted phrases such as total destruction.
On one hand, where North Korea is holding anti-US rallies, US is showing their strength by flying off bombers to the east coast of North Korea
Also read: 3.5-magnitude quake near North Korea nuclear test site
The North Korea terror is also keeping India on its toes. At the UNGA Meet, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said, "Nuclear proliferation is back in the zone of dangerous headlines. Cybersecurity has become a source of deep insecurity."
North Korea has been carrying out nuclear and missile tests in violation of the UN Security Council resolution.
"The thought is that parents, grandparents, will bring their kids there to have fun, to use the trails, but also to understand the history of veterans' service in Towamencin," land planner Peter Simone
Rabbis installation at Keneseth Israel will get a boost of student creativity
The Helena Regional Airport is offering a larger flight to Denver, which is one of several efforts to respond to a decade of growth.
Airport Director Jeff Wadekamper said the airport has experienced 22 percent growth in the last 10 years and is working on a grant to add more flight options and a terminal expansion next year.
In 2016, the airport saw a record year of growth up 3.5 percent from 2015. Wadekamper said most smaller airports are trying to maintain services, but Helena is ready for additional flights.
Were seeing that stable growth, he said. Keeping air services is the biggest challenge today.
The United flight to Denver started operating with a 76 seat Embraer 175 on Sept. 6, which increases the number of seats available by 41 percent per year. Wadekamper said United will completely phase out its 50 seat jets by 2018, making the 76 seat flight permanent. The new jet has a first class section, which Wadekamper said is in high demand.
While some smaller communities are already having trouble filling a 50-seat jet, Wadekamper said United flights out of Helena have been nearly full. This year, flights have been 89 percent full.
Theyve done very well in Helena, Wadekamper said.
The airport has diversified its revenue to be less dependent on income from airlines. Wadekamper said 34 percent of the airports revenue comes from non-aviation sources like lease income from owning the land Costco, Boeing and the Independent Record sit on.
Delta and Alaska Airlines, the other two airlines operating out of Helena, are also open to growth. Delta recently increased their service to Salt Lake City to a 76-seat jet.
Wadekamper said the airport is planning to expand its terminal. Passengers have been boarding Alaska Airlines flights from the ground, but the decision to bring in a larger jet in the next few years will require another jet bridge.
The number one destination for passengers is Seattle, closely followed by Portland. Wadekamper said the airport is interested in getting back a morning flight to Seattle, which went away several years ago, and adding a flight to Portland. The community has already raised $125,000 as an incentive for airlines to guarantee they wont lose money when expanding into a new market. The airport is working on a matching grant of $500,000 from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Once that grant is secured, Wadekamper said the airport will propose Alaska Airlines add another flight to Seattle and one to Portland.
Clean Chemistry, a chemical technology company, announced its patented PeroxyMAX chemistry has received Environmental Protection Agency biocide registration.
Damon Waters, chief executive officer and co-founder of the company, said the registration was the result of several years effort.
This registration takes several years to obtain, he said by phone from his Boulder, Colorado, office. As we continue to look to expand our reach, meeting federal regulations are necessary, and this is a big milestone.
He said the new registration will help the company broaden its customer base.
Were using it in the Permian Basin primarily for clarification and reuse of production water. Now we can work with customers who want to use it as a biocide, he said.
Some Permian Basin operators have worked with the company for water treatment but not for certain other applications because they wanted to use registered biocides, he said.
The oil and gas industry has long been seeking safer, more efficient chemicals with less toxic byproducts than the traditional chlorine chemistries, Waters said. They want to get away from the more caustic, damaging, corrosive chemistries theyve been using but dont like.
The company has been active in the Permian for the past few years and has opened a field office in Odessa to serve the region. Waters said new staff has been hired, and the company is focused on growing the office.
Were working with new partners and several customers. The momentum for growth continues, he said.
Waters sees continued demand for treatment options, particularly high-performance treatments such PeroxyMAX, as the industry moves towards reuse of produced water.
More infrastructure projects are being built around water, and with that centralized treatment to bring costs down and improve economics, theres a big opportunity for everyone as the industry trends toward reuse at a good price, he said.
Beyond using the PeroxyMAX chemistry in upstream water management in oil and gas, the new registration will allow Clean Chemistry access to a $10 billion market seeking to solve microbial control problems in a broader variety of industrial processes.
New industries that the company will be able to explore include food and beverage, pulp and paper, power plants, mining and cooling towers.
Sabinal Energy announces Central Basin Platform acquisition
THE WOODLANDS Sabinal Energy LLC and the Kayne Private Energy Income Fund LP announced the closing of the purchase of certain producing oil and natural gas assets owned by Chevron U.S.A. Inc. in the Central Basin Platform and Northern Shelf of West Texas.
The acquired assets produce about 7,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day across a roughly 66,500 net acre position in Hockley, Terry and Gaines counties.
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BP starts delivering natural gas to buyers in Mexico
By Collin Eaton
Houston Chronicle
BP has begun piping natural gas to buyers across eight states in Mexico as the country continues to open its energy sector to foreign investors, the company said.
The British oil giant said its delivering gas to industrial companies, distributors and power producers purchasing a combined 200 million British thermal units per day of natural gas.
BP had secured rights to pipe gas to the country in an auction earlier this year. It also plans to open some 1,500 gasoline stations in Mexico during the next half-decade; it had opened its first stations in March.
CenterPoints Enable Midstream buying Dallas company for $300M
HOUSTON CenterPoint Energys Enable Midstream joint venture said its buying Dallas pipeline company Align Midstream for $300 million.
Oklahoma City-based Enable is the pipeline and processing joint venture controlled by Houstons CenterPoint and Oklahomas OGE Energy. Enable is buying Align from the Dallas private equity firm Tailwater Capital.
The deal gives Enable Midstream Partners a strong position with more natural gas pipeline gathering and processing networks in the Haynesville and Cotton Valley shale plays in East Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. Align owns about 190 miles of gathering pipelines within those regions and a processing plant in Panola.
We are excited about the outlook for the Cotton Valley and Haynesville, and this acquisition further builds out our footprint to capture opportunities in active areas of these plays, said Enable CEO Rod Sailor.
Colorado fines oil and gas company $225,000 for 2016 spill
DENVER Colorado has fined an oil and gas company $225,000 for a pipeline leak that contaminated soil and water on a hunting ranch in the western part of the state.
The Denver Post reported the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission fined a subsidiary of Encana Oil and Gas over a June 2016 spill on the Bishop Ranch outside the town of Parachute.
Encana has not said how big the spill was. The newspaper said it obtained a state document showing the Encana subsidiary has recovered about 50,000 gallons at a cost of $2.7 million.
Bishop Ranch owner Mike Bishop said the fine wasnt big enough and was unlikely to deter future spills.
The ranch filed a state lawsuit over the spill. The suit is still pending.
Harvey is putting a new spotlight on a spaghetti-like network of petroleum pipelines that run across the plains and fields of Texas, disrupting the ability of at least two major Gulf Coast conduits to send fuels north.
The 5,500-mile Colonial Pipeline, a top transporter of gasoline for the Northeast, has closed part of its line after the pace of supply fell from refiners damaged by the storm. Meanwhile, Explorer Pipeline Inc. shut its lines to Tulsa and Chicago citing similar issues.
Why is the pace of supply so important? You need fuel to push fuel. Pumps at the start of a pipe get things moving, and those at its end suck product out. But its simple momentum, so-called operating pressure, that keeps it moving in pipes that can run hundreds and even thousands of miles long. Without enough bulk at the back end, things come to a halt.
Its not as much running out of supply as the timing, the speed at which supply gets to market, said Buster Brown, Colonial Pipeline Co.s director of scheduling. The issue is the pace of supply were getting from the origins.
The pipeline challenges come as the industry works to recover from a storm that hit the Gulf Coast with Category 4 force on Aug. 25 near Corpus Christi, inundating the surrounding area with flooding rains. That surge, and the storms slow movement along the coast as a tropical storm, crippled refineries and hampered crude production throughout the region.
Texas accounts for about one-sixth of total pipeline mileage in the U.S., making it the largest system in the country, with most starting or ending on the Gulf Coast, where as many as 35 major refineries are located, according to a report by Lipow Oil Associates LLC in Houston. At least two dozen companies operate pipeline assets in Texas and Louisiana, the Association of Oil Pipe Lines, a Washington-based industry lobbying group, said.
Most pipeline operators in that region upgraded their systems over the past few years, as part of a concentrated push to withstand storms after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the region in 2005 and Ike came in 2008, according to a 2016 study by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Alternate centers
Those upgrades included new electrical systems with battery backup, as well as elevated control rooms and pump stations. In some cases, operators set up alternate control centers or office space away from storm-prone areas, the U.S. Department of Energy said in a separate report.
That helped them survive the flooding from Harvey. Now, the operators are hoping that efforts by Valero Energy Corp., Citgo Petroleum Corp., both said to be restarting their refineries near Corpus Christi, are the initial steps toward a regional revival. At the same time, the U.S. government is set to release 1 million barrels of oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the first emergency discharge in five years.
"While there are hurdles to putting things back, there has not been catastrophic damage" to Gulf Coast pipelines, said John Stoody, vice president of government and public relations at the pipe line association. Now, though, we are seeing reduction in service, and it will take time to return."
Motiva plant still closed
Until that new supply kicks in, pipelines will struggle to keep the flow moving. Motiva Enterprises LLCs Port Arthur plant in Texas, the largest U.S. refinery, remains shut due to flooding.
In some storms, we have recovered pretty quickly, said John Auers, executive vice president at energy consultant Turner Mason & Co., in a telephone interview. "However, this Harvey is an epic rain event, and right in the heart of the refining industry."
Colonial, which moves 1.3 million barrels a day of gasoline, said its lines are running east of Lake Charles, Louisiana, though operations are down in the Houston area.
"Deliveries will be intermittent and dependent on terminal and refinery supply," the company said in a statement. The operator is seeking to resume service from Houston on Sunday, the company said.
Explorer, meanwhile, doesnt have a time line to restart, but is working with shippers "to pump product under any feasible situation," spokesman Dolin Argo said in an email.
Lower flows
Pipeline operators can reduce pressures to accommodate lower flows, but how low depends on the types of pumps and valves a line has, according to Stoody. A few can operate down to 20 percent, he said. If supply is below minimum levels, operators can collect supply into tanks until they have enough to flow a batch to its destination.
Other lines have also been slowed. Magellan Midstream Partners LP was able to restart one products line into Houston, the company said, but others remain suspended. The company has also shut its Longhorn and BridgeTex crude pipes, stranding 675,000 barrels a day of oil.
Companies are working to assess the safety and potential damage of assets theyre able to access, according to Christi Craddick, chair of the Railroad Commission of Texas, which has regulatory authority over the states oil and gas industry. But in the coastal areas where Harvey did its worst, flooding is preventing operators from even being able to inspect some sites, she said.
"Until the water goes down and we can really go in make an assessment, I dont think anybody knows yet what assets look like" in the areas hardest hit by Harvey, Craddick said in a telephone interview. "We dont have a time line at this point."
With the last click of the computer mouse or tap of the tablet computer or smartphone, University Lands racked up $118 million in revenue from what was the largest lease sale in its history. The sale ended Sept. 20.
Of the approximately 400,000 acres being offered throughout the West Texas portion of the Permian Basin, the sale resulted in the lease of 43,724 acres for an average lease price of $2,700 per acre. Some lots went for more than $12,000 per acre.
We were pleased with the results, Mark Houser, chief executive officer of University Lands, said in a phone interview from his Houston office. Its been awhile since we had such a large sale. We had a lot of potential interest, and we got good value from the prices.
For this sale, University Lands made some changes to accommodate the trend toward horizontal drilling, putting together 95,000 acres in continuous lots to promote horizontal drilling, Houser said.
While much of the acreage leased was adjacent to existing development, some bidders leased acreage in more fringe areas, according to Houser.
He listed acreage in Culberson County, in southern Pecos County and some acreage in Ward County on the edge of the Delaware Basin as more exploratory in nature. Some acreage was even leased in Crane County in what he called part of the new Barnett Shale play.
While Houser admitted that less acreage was leased than he had expected, he said the results ensure continued development on university lands.
Well have 300 wells drilled on our lands this calendar year. For folks to earn this acreage, theyll have to drill 300 wells over the next three years. That keeps feeding the development pipeline, he said.
The sale was offered online through the platform EnergyNet. Houser said he was pleased with the coverage and visibility from the platform. There were 68 registered bidders bidding from 10 states, he said.
As the agency reviews the results of the sale, Houser said hes not sure when the next offering will be.
We had held off on significant lease sales for awhile. Do we want the predictable sale every six months, or do we wait on demand and have a larger sale? he said.
Look for another sale next year.
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This past academic year, Midland ISD celebrated as four schools worked their way off the states list of failing campuses.
Turnaround has been -- and will continue to be -- the expectation for these schools.
Milam Elementary -- more than any other school -- has been the poster child for this effort and what can be achieved. The school tucked away in east Midland has not only met expectations but in some cases is surpassing them. At a recent MISD board meeting, school officials were honored for a rare double. Milam officials were congratulated for coming off the Texas Education Agencys improvement required list and were honored for having three TEA distinction designations: for academic achievement in mathematics, for landing in the top 25 percent in student progress and for landing in the top 25 percent in closing performance gaps.
So in a span of one year, Milam went from being a four-time failing campus to posting more distinction designations than all but three Midland ISD schools (Carver Center, Early College High School and Parker Elementary).
We had to make sure we had a culture of high academic achievement, said Iliana Bermea, who is in her third year as Milams principal.
Bermea said that when she arrived two years ago, a restructuring took place to establish that culture of high academic achievement. She said those on the Milam campus had to gain awareness of the essential things we needed to cover to allow teachers to have expectations and to allow students to have accountability for their own work.
Even though we didnt get out of IR (in 2016), we showed significant progress, Bermea said. We knew what we were doing was the right thing. We refined those processes last year.
Bermea told the Reporter-Telegram about school-wide systems of collaboration, data management and intervention. The school is also benefiting from being in its third year of professional learning communities (PLCs). The proof is in the data.
When it comes to student achievement -- TEA Index No. 1 -- Milam went from a score of 44 in 2015 to 52 in 2016 and to 70 in 2017.
A similar jump was seen in TEA Index 3 -- closing the performance gaps, which emphasizes advanced academic achievement of the economically disadvantaged student group and the lowest performing race/ethnicity student groups at each campus or district. Here, Milams 19 in 2015 rose to a 42 in 2017.
Third-grade math scores have soared from 35 in 2015 to 65 in 2016 to 93 in 2017.
(The scores) were affirmation what we were doing what the right thing, Bermea said.
MISDs chief academic officer, Patrick Jones, said of Milam: They are really setting the bar and letting all other campuses know -- not just in Midland but across the state -- it can be done. ... They are just at the beginning.
Expectations are high, and the work continues. Milam received students from the former Crockett Elementary campus, which was forced to close because of seven straight failing years, according to the TEA. But MISD leaders have confidence in Bermea.
Leadership matters, and the entire team has embraced where she is taking them, Jones said.
And Bermea has confidence in her staff that includes 30 classroom teachers.
We want to continue the momentum; we dont want to go to a place that is complacent, Bermea said. Students are being successful -- that is what is right.
The community health centers where more than 106,000 Montanans get care are worried they could lose 70 percent of their federal support if Congress allows funding to lapse at the end of the month.
About one in 10 of the states residents see a primary care doctor, get help with chronic conditions, have their teeth cleaned or see a mental health professional at one of Montanas 17 community health care centers.
The Community Health Centers Fund was first approved by Congress in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act and extended for two more years in 2015. But without action in Washington by Sept. 30, it will expire.
Nationally, its estimated that more than 2,800 community health centers will close, more than 50,000 will lose jobs and 9 million patients will lose access to care if funding expires. Sixty-one senators, including Montanas Steve Daines, a Republican, and Jon Tester, a Democrat, have signed on to a letter supporting the funding.
In Montana, 17 community health centers account for 407,084 patient visits a year. About 20,574 patients are children and adolescents and 85,768 are adults, according to information from the Montana Primary Care Association. The association estimates the centers lower medical costs for patients by about 24 percent and have saved the state's overall health system $134 million.
Many of Montana's centers say they would have to drastically reduce services if funding expires.
Cindy Smith, the CEO of Bullhook Community Health Center in Havre, said her facility sees about 5,000 people a year, about 15 percent to 20 percent of whom are uninsured. About 70 people work there.
If Bullhook loses 70 percent of its federal funding, it would end up with just a little over $500,000 in federal funding. That loss of money would make it nearly impossible to offer things like a sliding scale for fees that make care possible for many.
I might be able to keep providers in place because you still need those providers, but wed be running at minimal staffing levels, Smith said. We need to try to keep providers in place to meet some patient needs. It would be really difficult to do the sliding fee scale as much as we do. It could be a devastating impact.
Katherine Shrauger, the outreach and enrollment coordinator for Bullhook, said the health center provides huge savings to individuals, the community and the state.
A study done by the National Association of Community Health Centers shows community health care centers provide $24 billion in health care cost savings by keeping people from seeking more expensive care in emergency rooms and by treating conditions before they become severe or chronic.
It empowers them, Shrauger said about patients. I can think of patients that seem more confident because they know they can come in here and get to see a provider and know theyre going to get better. There are people out there who havent been to the doctor in 20 to 25 years. And theyre the lucky ones who dont have anything wrong.
PureView Health Center, another community health center, has locations in Helena and Lincoln and provides medical, dental and mental health care. Chief Executive Officer Jill Steeley said the center sees about 7,840 people a year, including 805 in the small town of Lincoln. About 400 people experiencing homelessness use the center each year.
That equates to more than 25,045 visits. Most are for medical care and about 15 percent are dental visits. Between July 2015 and December 2015, the center had 1,951 mental health visits. The center also serves about 400 veterans a year.
Of the center's patients, about 30 percent receive Medicaid, 20 percent are uninsured, 20 percent get Medicare and the rest are otherwise insured. Even more important, Steeley said, about 36 percent of patients are at 100 percent or below the federal poverty line.
At PureView, the reduction in funding would be a drastic cutback of services and a drastic decrease in the amount of patients were able to serve each year, Steeley said. "The number of uninsured or under-insured people we would be able to see would be reduced greatly."
Patients at community health centers get care from a whole team: doctors, nurses, therapists, case managers, diabetes educator and clinical pharmacists who help them understand how medications interact. Most of those positions are not billable and depend on the federal dollars, Steeley said.
Shrauger, at Bullhook, works to enroll people into health care under the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. She is worried about the possible double hit from the federal cut and the state of Montanas move to lower the rates it reimburses for Medicaid services.
If both were to happen, we wouldnt be able to keep our doors open very long, she said.
Anyone can use community health centers, rich or poor, insured or not, Shrauger said. A lot of people who end up with chronic illnesses, like hypertension, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or other heart conditions rely on providers at Bullhook.
Bullhooks sliding fee scale, which is based on income and household size, would be at risk if federal funding were lost. Its a critical tool for people to access care, Shrauger said.
Even if people have insurance, say they dont make very much money, they can still qualify for our slide, she said. If they qualify for the slide, they're going to be able to use that for health care before their deductible kicks in.
Bullhook also provides treatment for addiction and behavioral health issues. The center wouldnt be able to provide as much of that type of care if federal funding were lost, Shrauger said.
I cant even imagine what would happen to them, she said. Its scary right now.
Bullhook is essential for patients like one man Shrauger said hit a bad string of luck and would have been without care if not for the center.
She signed the man up for an insurance plan offered under the marketplace established through the Affordable Care Act. Shortly after, he had a stroke. When he was recovering from the stroke, he fell and ended up needing to have his little finger amputated. Then he fell on the ice and broke his hip.
Within 17 months he lost his job, his income and his insurance. Then he got a toothache.
He knew he could come into Bullhook and not have to pay up front, Shrauger said. What he didnt know was that she could also sign him up for coverage under Medicaid expansion, which she did.
It actually saved his life because from my office I went and got one of the mental health counselors, who helped him with his depression and so on He was in debt up to his eyeballs, but at least he has coverage if something happens again.
Shrauger said she sees people who are incarcerated worry about how to get medical care when theyre not in county custody.
When people are in jail, they know theyre going to get their medication, they know theyre going to get their diabetes or high blood pressure medication, or whatever they take. When they get out, they get in trouble and go back in because they know theyre going to get their medicine.
At Bullhook, Shrauger can often sign them up for Medicaid coverage.
Its until they can get on their feet and get a job, she said. Once they know they can feel good because theyre going to have their medication, its much easier to get a job.
It's unclear when the Senate will pick up the funding issue, but with 60 senators in support, some see reason to hope. Still, Montana's delegation is raising concerns as the deadline looms.
Without extension of the CHCF, community health centers will lose 70 percent of their funding, Daines said. We are already hearing of the disruptive effects of the uncertainty created by the impending funding cliff on health center operations. This disruption will increase significantly without an extension of funding by Sept. 30.
Tester also called for quick action.
Instead of working together to support community health centers, lower costs, and increase access to health care, some folks in Congress are pushing a dangerous bill that will devastate rural America. Washington politicians must start listening to Montana families and stop trying to dismantle health care.
Although House approval is not needed to keep funding for the health centers in place, Gianforte said he supports keeping it at current levels.
I appreciate the critical role community health centers play in ensuring the health and well-being of Montanans. They provide access to quality health care for those who would otherwise not have it, including Montanans in our rural communities,'' Gianforte said. "Extending funding for our community health centers remains one of my top priorities.
Over the last several years I have had the opportunity to work with Jim Smith in the State Legislature on issues critical to Montanans. When you work shoulder to shoulder with a person you get to know them. I appreciate very much Jims dedication to Montana and to Helena. He genuinely cares about people and works hard for their benefit. I found Jim to be hardworking, honest and a person of conviction. Jim has served Helena as Mayor for several years and will continue to do an outstanding job on your behalf. Please support Jim Smith for Mayor of Helena.
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A man serving a life sentence for murder and awaiting trial in a second slaying has been indicted in another death.
Curtis Don Brown, 49, has been indicted in the strangulation of Sharyn Kills Back, 18, who disappeared March 15, 1985, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in Saturday's editions.
A plumber discovered Kills Back's body with a rope around her neck on March 23, 1985, in a storm drain in southern Arlington. She was a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe who had moved off the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota at age 16.
Her death went unsolved for more than two decades. Then, police learned in September 2005 that Brown had been linked through a DNA database to Kills Back's rape and strangulation.
Alan Levy, chief of the criminal division of the Tarrant County district attorney's office, has said that he plans to seek the death penalty against Brown in the slaying.
Brown's attorney, Tim Moore of Fort Worth, did not return a Saturday telephone call to his office from The Associated Press.
Brown is serving a life sentence in prison for the Fort Worth murder of Jewel Woods. Woods, a 51-year-old nurse, was killed in 1986 outside her east Fort Worth apartment.
Last May, Brown was charged in the Fort Worth death of Terece Gregory. Kills Back and Gregory both died in 1985.
Brown was linked by a DNA database to the slaying of Gregory, 29, whose body was found floating in the Trinity River on May 30, 1985. The day before, Gregory had disappeared after driving away from the Caravan of Dreams, a downtown Fort Worth nightclub. She had been raped and shot.
In July 2005, Brown was indicted on a capital murder charge in Gregory's death. He was brought back to Fort Worth from prison and remains in the Tarrant County Jail, awaiting trial in that case.
This year, investigators have re-examined 25 unsolved slayings of women in Tarrant County. About a dozen of those women were killed over a period of 21 months in the mid-1980s.
SAPANTA, Romania (AP) Death isn't always tragic, at least not in this Romanian cemetery, where the dead beguile visitors with tales of their lives.
The Merry Cemetery in the northwestern village of Sapanta is a collection of more than 1,000 elaborate wooden Orthodox crosses etched with colorful epitaphs and childlike drawings.
There are few secrets in this small community and whatever flaws someone had when they were alive are turned into "grave art" when they die.
This darkly humorous and matter-of-fact approach, rooted in the traditional peasant culture of the region, intrigues visitors.
Despite its remote location some 600 kilometers (360 miles) northwest of the Romanian capital, Bucharest, it's one of the country's top tourist attractions.
"I've seen what touches (tourists). This cemetery... is not just a cemetery. People realized that this indeed is a place where you can laugh at death itself," said sculptor Dumitru Pop Tincu, 62, who crafted many of the crosses. He spoke to The Associated Press in his workshop, dressed in a traditional costume of an embroidered smock, loose trousers and a straw hat.
One recent morning, German tourists were taking in the rows of intricately carved blue, yellow, green and red crosses, looking at the cartoon-like drawings and limericks written in a quirky language used by locals. Some consider the place less a graveyard and more an outdoor museum.
Romanian-born Gerhard Schuster, 63, who lives in Kempten, southern Germany, said: "Ever since I was a child I heard stories about this. My parents were talking about the Merry Cemetery and I've always wanted to come and see it but wasn't able to until now. "
One of the drawings features a young man and a subway carriage the man was run over by a train. His epitaph reads: "I enjoyed life so much, I went to western Europe; may it be cursed along with the Paris metro. I used to be a gambler, and I died in 2001 when I was 16 years old."
Some of the crosses resemble modern-day morality tales.
One epitaph for a truck driver warns the living about the perils of working too hard. "I used to work to be wealthy and I had to leave everything behind. I wish people would stop and read this on my cross," it reads. "Here's what happened: the truck rolled over and the dirt smothered me. I died in Barcelona in 2002 when I was 42 years old."
In 1935, local wood sculptor Stan Ioan Patras came up with the idea of engraving epitaphs and simple drawings onto crosses, and went on to craft a total of 700 crosses until his death in 1977. His grave says he was the creator of the Merry Cemetery.
Crosses costs between 2,000 and 5,000 lei ($520 to $1,300) and it can take weeks to create one.
While some crosses are amusing, others are simply sad.
One shows a three-year-old being run over by a car, and another tells the story of a 38-year-old man who had a "merciless death" that snatched him from his wife and two daughters.
Tincu mused about the philosophy behind the cemetery.
"These texts and images contain elements that remind you of what life is about," he said.
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LOS ANGELES The Giants season has reached its final week. Hold your applause.
Over their final six games, they will see if they can avoid 100 losses after hitting 95 Sunday, bid farewell to Matt Cain and learn how high they will pick in the 2018 amateur draft, before everyone goes home to see how quickly they can forget 2017.
The Giants penultimate week ended Sunday with a 3-1 loss to the Dodgers that will be remembered for Mac Williamson hitting a moon shot over the center-field fence against Clayton Kershaw and little else.
Williamson and Hunter Pence each had three hits against Kershaw, matching the total number of three-hit games by a Giant against the big left-hander since he arrived in 2008. Joaquin Arias and Buster Posey had the other two, both in 2015.
Otherwise, Kershaw did Kershaw things for eight innings and earned his 22nd win against the Giants, mostly by getting them to beat the ball into the ground. Posey, Nick Hundley, Tim Federowicz and Brandon Crawford all hit into double plays.
Chris Stratton allowed three runs over four innings in his first start of what should be many against the Dodgers. Yasmani Grandal got him for a sacrifice fly and a two-run homer.
Ty Blach relieved Stratton, pitched for the first time since Sept. 11 and threw three shutout innings.
Thats a valuable asset to have in the bullpen, someone to sit as long as he had and throw strikes like that, manager Bruce Bochy said.
Both rookie pitchers had intriguing years.
Blach was the rotation savior when he took Madison Bumgarners place after the dirt-bike spill. When Blach began to falter in August, Stratton, the Giants first-round draft pick in 2012, seemingly came out of nowhere and became one of the teams most consistent starters.
Sundays game could be a preview of how Stratton and Blach are used next year, assuming both are on the team. Stratton looks more like a starter, with a live fastball and three good secondary pitches. Blach could be a long reliever and get lefties out here or there.
Come March, they could be competing for one open spot in the rotation.
Possibly, Bochy said. Well see how we get through the winter. I think we have two good ones there. Both can start. Both can pitch out of the pen. Its nice to see them come up an do well.
Williamsons role in 2018 is cloudy after a season that began on the wrong foot or leg, to be more accurate when he injured a quadriceps in spring training and could not compete for a bench job.
He struggled for much of the year in the minors and has not played much since his call-up. But the Giants have to respect the power he showed in the eighth inning when he broke up Kershaws shutout with a homer that cleared the center-field wall by plenty.
Williamson is trying to find a spot in winter ball to get much-needed catch-up at-bats, but his agent has a tough assignment. With political strife and violence in Venezuela, and Puerto Rico reeling from hurricanes, American ballplayers are homing in on the Dominican league.
They can pick and choose whom they want to come down there, Williamson said. Its not like there are a ton of spots.
The Giants fell to 61-95, which means they need to win two of their final six games to prevent 100 losses.
In ending their season series against the Dodgers at 8-11, losing seven of the final nine games, the Giants broke a tie with the Phillies and again own the worst record in the majors. The free-falling Tigers and Phillies are a game better at 62-94, with the White Sox still in the running for worst record if they have a really bad week.
Chances are the Giants will have no worse than the third pick in the draft, their highest since they took Matt Williams with the third pick in 1986.
Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: hschulman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hankschulman
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BRIDGEPORT A group of Catholic sisters, dressed in purple robes and holding sliver incense burners, slowly walked backward and wafted smoke toward a big, rectangular platform covered with revered icons and images of Christ.
A cadre of 30 or so bearers also wearing purple robes balanced the platform on their shoulders and slowly shuffled forward, cradling the flowers, pictures and the other adornments on their shoulders. A band of Cantadoras, playing New Orleans-style music, followed behind.
This is a special day, Evlyn Rodriquez, a Bridgeport resident and Peruvian native, said Sunday as the Procesion del Senor de los Milagros Procession of the Lord of Miracles began outside Saint Mary Roman Catholic Church on the citys East Side.
Based on religious faith and legend, the Lord of Miracles procession is a staple in Peru and Latin America, drawing thousands of followers each fall for the colorful displays, religious symbolism and iconic music. The procession on Sunday drew faithful from New Jersey, Rhode Island and Long Island, N.Y., as well as from across southwestern Connecticut.
St Marys Pastor Rolando Torres said the ceremony is a one of a kind celebration that began centuries ago.
Its a special day for the Peruvian community and all Latin Americans, Torres said, adding Sunday marked the second year his church hosted the procession, which slowly moved through city streets for hours as hundreds of onlookers watched.
Its beautiful to see, Torres said.
The Lord of Miracles procession dates back to a 1655 earthquake that destroyed parts of Lima, Peru and the surrounding countryside, including a number of churches. But at one church, a wall containing an image of Christ escaped unharmed and that miracle formed the basis of the processions.
According to legend, orders to erase the image, which had become a popular religious gathering spot, failed. In one story, a painter began to tremble and shake as he attempted to cover the image, and was unable to continue.
Jose Casco, a Bridgeport City Council member, said the procession is important for the Peruvian and Latin American communities.
Its important for our community to get together, Casco said. Our community needs places to get together and stay as a community.
Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, were on the mind of those gathered for the procession as were the recent Mexican earthquakes.
Casco said the church and other community leaders are raising relief funds, including supporters in Stamford and Norwalk. He said Torres plans to personally deliver donations to Puerto Rico.
The money is for Mexico and the Caribbean too, Casco said. We are getting a lot of turnout, a lot of support.
Manuel Murrugarra, a Westport resident who was raised in Peru, said Peruvians and other Latin Americans grow up with the Lord of Miracles procession.
All of our lives we have seen this, Murrugarra said. This is 400 years of tradition. Its our way of living true. We can get together, but not just for Peruvians but other Latin (communities), such as Puerto Rico.
GREENWICH In kicking off the fall campaign season, Greenwich Republicans didnt just show off their ticket of candidates on Sunday afternoon, they also unveiled the slogan and theme of the campaign: Greenwich First.
The theme was carried forth by the speakers at Sundays annual Cos Cob Republican Club and Greenwich Republican Town Committee Clambake. The Republican slate is led by First Selectman Peter Tesei and Selectman John Toner, both of whom are seeking re-election. RTC Chairman Stephen Walko said Sunday that Greenwich First is the perfect slogan for candidates like them.
Peter Tesei has an undeniable love for this town along with his fiscal acumen and his thoughtful leadership, Walko said. Him and John Toner, boy what a duo they are. When people pick slogans, some are great and some kind of fall off, but putting Greenwich First nothing could better exemplify the spirit of what those two individuals mean and think and do. What they give back to the town is truly amazing. Theyve led us through financial crisis with thoughtful leadership.
Issues in state government with deficits and an ongoing budget crisis were on Teseis mind during his remarks at the clambake as he said he was glad to be part of the team that puts Greenwich first.
My decision to run for another term is predicated on offering stability in an otherwise unstable next two years, Tesei said. Under my leadership, we continue to support the essential services that make Greenwich such a special place to live, work and raise a family. We have outstanding first responders, as evidenced by Safewise ranking us as the number one safest community to raise a child in America. We have the highest quality educational opportunities. We have a balanced approach to investment in our public infrastructure using prudent, effective methods of financing. We have excellent services for our most vulnerable residents and our increasing and active senior residents.
Both Tesei and Toner noted the importance of having Greenwich remain known as a premiere community to live and work in.
Greenwich is changing, Toner said. Its under pressure from outside and internal forces which could negatively impact the town we love. The Tesei years have cemented our fiscal strength and the quality of life we enjoy. But uncertainty at the state level and the left-leaning movements in town leaves us vulnerable to unfavorable change.
Toner referred to the activist group Indivisible Greenwich, jokingly calling them Indefensible and saying they were the flavor of the month. Democratic first selectman candidate Sandy Litvack is married to Indivisible Greenwich founder Joanna Swomley.
Close to 150 people attended the clambake, which was held at Greenwich Point, and several in attendance had their eye on 2018s state races. Dominic Rapini, who is running for senator against incumbent Democrat U.S. Sen. Chris Murph,y was there to introduce himself and meet the party faithful, as were treasurer candidate Thad Gray and several Republicans seeking a run for governor.
Walko joked there were so many candidates for governor, he should have started reading the list on Saturday to be done with it by Sundays clambake. The event attracted candidates Steve Obsitnik, Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst, Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti, Peter Thalheim, former U.S. Comptroller Dave Walker and State Reps. Toni Boucher and Prasad Srinivasan.
But the focus of Sundays Republican gathering was to stump for the local ticket, including Tax Collector Tod Laudonia, who is seeking his fifth term in office. Laudonia is being challenged by Democrat Howard Richman in a rematch of a 2015 race Laudonia won in a blowout. The election has shown signs of being extremely contentious, with Democrats questioning Laudonias performance in office.
Were going to contrast (negativity from the Democrats) with a positive message, Laudonia said. We will continue with that theme, which will bring us all to victory again. Our citizens are savvy. They can differentiate national and local and local is what counts in this election.
Laudonia said it has been an honor to serve as tax collector for eight years and pledged to continue to work diligently to represent all of the towns taxpayers.
I have no personal agenda other than collect the money, Laudonia said. Thats what Im there for. Thats what we do and our record shows we have done it.
Tesei stumped not just for the local ticket but also at the looming state races, offering heavy criticism for Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy, who is not running for a third term, while offering praise to Republican members of the legislator for passing a bipartisan budget, which is expected to be vetoed.
Help is on the way, Tesei said. Were going to keep our head above water. Were going to keep marching forward. Were going to win in November and were going to make sure and win in November 2018 and continue to put Greenwich first and make Connecticut first again.
kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
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With the potential loss of more than a billion dollars in local aid at stake, legislative leaders and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy this week face their biggest deadline yet to finally reach a compromise budget deal for the fiscal year that began July 1.
If they fail to vote on a compromise that can clear the House and Senate, then get Malloys signature by Oct. 1, dozens of the states wealthier towns will fall victim to a bare-bones executive order from the governor and will miss out on the first of a scheduled four payments for local schools.
After a summer of failed negotiations and then a surprise Republican budget that Malloy has vowed to veto when it likely gets to his desk this week, those on the front lines said its time for lawmakers and the governor to end the states historic stalemate.
Bipartisan budget a goal
For me and for any of us we wanted a budget by July 1, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said Sunday morning. October 1 is certainly another deadline. A bipartisan budget is the goal. Whether its possible or not is anybodys guess.
He said that he and Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, will first try to come up with a revised two-year $39-billion budget that will bring back the three Democratic senators who recently sided with the Republican budget that also cleared the House.
As more of the GOP budget is analyzed, we know now that not only does it have massive tax increases; is out-of-balance, with huge spending increases in first year; and defers $300 million in pension payments, Duff said. It should be rejected on the math because it doesnt add up.
Heading into Tuesdays bipartisan talks with the Democratic governor and Republicans, hes hopeful that some kind of common ground can finally be found.
Like Duff, Looney said there are glaring shortcomings with the Republican plan, including an over reliance on unassured savings; and unacceptable cuts to higher education, including the the elimination of 9,000 scholarships.
This week we are hoping for a bipartisan deal, Looney said. We would prefer to have a new budget and not a continuing executive order.
Looney said a lot of line items are similar to the GOP budget. But the so-called no-tax budget has been unmasked.
Looney agreed with remarks Malloy made last week, doubting that a new budget can win approval before Oct. 1. Our conversations with the House Democratic leadership will continue Monday and well talk with (the State Office of Policy and Management ) leading into Tuesday's meeting with the governor, Looney said.
Republicans respond
But Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, and House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, said Sunday that the GOP budget,which was also approved by three Democratic senators and five House Democrats, is still the best the state can hope for, despite Malloys promised veto.
What Im tired about is the lies that have been put out by the Democrats, hand-in-hand with their state-union allies, Fasano said. Im tired of the perpetuation of those lies in many newspaper editorials and further, the total lack of understanding of our budget. Everybody wants change but not my area. So everyone is talking change, structural change, but not now, not here, not me.
He said that claims by the teachers union that a $1,500 annual payment per-teacher, in the GOP budget, would not go into their pension fund was a total fabrication; and that UConn President Susan Herbsts claim that the Republican budget would cut the university by $300 million is overstated, when it would cut UConn $244 million over two years. Democrats would cut UConn back by $100 million over the biennium.
President Herbst didnt ask how were going to balance the books, Fasano said. Are we going to cut social services, raise taxes, cut municipalities? Shes quick to run for the mountain top and hit the panic button. She will never close the Stamford campus. Shell never close Avery Point. All we know is hysteria from her. She should be ashamed. Also dont forget UConn has the highest-paid people in the state, as well as UConn Health. Why would you not start there? This budget is a good budget and moves Connecticut forward. Now its time to smell the stink in the air. Im not going to kowtow to the wrong ideas.
Theres a $5-billion deficit and everyone was afraid to make the difficult choices, Klarides said in a phone interview. This isnt a perfect land. This is reality. There are two choices. Either Gov. Malloy can sign our bipartisan budget, the only budget that could pass. Or October 1, Malloy will zero-out 85 towns. I get what Susan Herbst is saying, but shes forgetting the fact that UConns getting a billion dollars overall; as well as some structural changes in the procurement process.
Meanwhile, sources said Sunday that if there isnt an imminent compromise deal on an entire new budget deal, a special one-day session would be called late in the week to assure that $70 million in federal Medicaid reimbursement funding flows to state hospitals, beating an Oct. 1 deadline.
kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
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Schenectady
It felt like city leaders and residents were holding a winning ticket when they learned in late 2014 that a casino proposed for an old industrial site won a coveted state license.
But nearly seven months after Rivers Casino's much-hyped Feb. 8 opening on Erie Boulevard, it is bringing in 37 percent of the $222 million in gaming revenue operators predicted it would make during its first year.
Mayor Gary McCarthy said he is generally pleased with the transformation of the former Alco property a once-forlorn 60-acre property dominated by decaying buildings and brown weeds now owned by the Rotterdam-based Galesi Group. Galesi teamed up with Rush Street Gaming of Chicago on the $480 million residential-retail waterfront development that also features a marina and hotels.
"Now we got a casino there, we got Mohawk Harbor, and Mohawk Harbor isn't done, so there's still construction going on there, and we're getting more revenue than we had before," McCarthy said, adding he understands "people have expectations everything's going to be perfect."
He said casino executives are "looking to modify their business plan and some of their marketing."
The city faces the challenge of getting outsiders to visit the casino and other attractions in Schenectady, McCarthy said, adding he hopes things go smoother once the city completes roadwork on Erie Boulevard, a gateway into the casino and downtown. The work is expected to be done by next month.
Rivers officials will say little about any possible changes to their marketing and business strategy.
In a recent statement, Rivers Casino & Resort General Manager Mary Cheeks said "we're satisfied with the performance" of the facility and "have received a positive response from many of our guests and team members."
"As promised, Rivers continues to provide high quality jobs, along with strong community and economic benefits."
But that upbeat assessment seems to be at odds with John Donnelly, a lawyer representing Rivers Casino, who last month spoke at a gathering on horse racing and gaming law in Saratoga Springs, proclaiming that the "party's over." A representative with the firm that handles public relations for Rivers said in an email that Donnelly was referring to casinos in Atlantic City and not New York.
Schenectady Finance Commissioner Tony Ferrari said last month that the city "took the low end" of the financial analysis by an outside agency when they projected the city would receive $2.75 million in revenue from the casino in the 2017 city budget.
As of mid-July, the state Gaming Commission online data indicates that the host city and county of Schenectady had each received $1.12 million, while other nonhost counties got a smaller percentage of the money, which the state doles out on a quarterly basis.
Ferrari said the first two quarters were "a little disappointing" adding, "we thought it would be higher."
He said, however, that revenue in July and August increased. Ferrari said he expected that to continue after the July 19 opening of the Landing Hotel next to the casino and the Hilton Homewood Suites on Freemans Bridge Road in neighboring Glenville.
He said conversations with county officials and Cheeks also point to more robust times ahead, which could translate into more casino money flowing into the city coffers.
City officials knew the opening of the casino would bring headaches as well as money.
Schenectady Police Chief Eric Clifford said as of mid-September roughly a third of the 61 crimes that people were charged with in connection with the casino were related to trespassing by individuals banned by the casino.
Of that number, 23 were for trespassing and five for the more serious offense of criminal trespassing, he said.
Other arrests have been for disorderly conduct, harassment, resisting arrest and drug offenses, which are often tied to the original trespassing crime, Clifford said. Police work closely with casino security personnel, he added.
The chief said police have investigated no complaints that casino visitors were robbed after they left the building.
Clifford added that the casino's security staff has been quick to act on concerns raised by the city. After he raised concerns about casino-goers drinking in the parking lot to avoid the higher cost of drinks inside, the casino added more security and patrols, and increased lighting in the area.
"The activity and the incidents generated down there are consistent with any large business being open and drawing people to it," Clifford said.
The department recently reduced the staffing needed for the casino, which reimburses for the officers who work there on overtime, the chief said. The casino pays the city for the extra security and then the money is used to pay the officers' salaries.
"I'm not painting a picture like everything is perfect down there; there's issues that pop up and we address them," he added.
Despite the challenges, McCarthy said Rivers Casino and Resort at Mohawk Harbor is already helping the city's efforts to increase home sales and attract businesses.
He also said that the casino is one key component that allows the city, chronically plagued by high tax rates, to propose double-digit tax decreases. The city used that as a major selling point when trying to convince the state to award a casino license to Schenectady.
Chris Smith, who lives in an apartment complex on Front Street less than a block from the casino, said Rivers has so far been a good neighbor.
"I do feel that we are not being heavily affected by what goes on at the casino, there isn't a lot of noise, but the way it's situated, it's back far enough, it's over far enough so our living situation has not been dramatically affected," he said. "The only effect that we have had is that there is a lot more walking traffic because a lot of employees living somewhere in the area."
Carmella Ruscitto, president of the neighborhood association in the neighboring East Front Street area, concurs with Smith.
"We don't mind the traffic, but we mind them going fast," Ruscitto said about motorists using the Erie Boulevard roundabout that feeds into the casino parking lot.
She praised casino officials for listening to concerns raised by neighbors, citing the example of the bus stop being moved farther away from Madison Street to lessen its impact on the neighborhood. "When we talk to the casino, they listen; when we talk to the city, it's a different story."
Ruscitto said even with the casino nearby the neighborhood is still quiet.
"I'm 79 years old. I was born right here, everything is the same."
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Students at a Michigan high school have viral student ID pictures, thanks to a school tradition.
At North Farmington High School, seniors are allowed to dress up for their student IDs. The students took full advantage of the freedom to dress up, portraying characters from President Donald Trump to Harry Potter.
HOUSTON SCHOOLS: The most well-behaved Houston-area high schools
Shelby Sheridan, 17, told Buzzfeed that seniors usually do fun photos but "this year it really blew up."
The students shared side-by-side photos of who they were portraying on Twitter, with many of the tweets going viral.
Other inspiration for the costumes include Wendy's, Disney movies, Audrey Hepburn and Pablo Escobar.
See some of the best photos from the senior class that have been posted on Twitter in the gallery above.
Recently, Kathy Brandts 86-year-old mother was hospitalized in Florida after a fall. After rushing to her side, Brandt asked for a consult with a palliative care nurse.
I wanted someone to make sure my mother was on the right medications, Brandt said.
For all her expertise Brandt advises end-of-life organizations across the country she was taken aback when the nurse suggested hospice care for her mother, who has advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, kidney disease and a rapid, irregular heartbeat.
I was like really? Brandt remembered saying, struggling with shock.
Its a common reaction. Although hospices now serve more than 1.4 million people a year, this specialized type of care, meant for people with six months or less to live, continues to evoke resistance, fear and misunderstanding.
The biggest misperception about hospice is that its brink-of-death care, said Patricia Mehnert, a longtime hospice nurse and interim chief executive officer of TRU Community Care, the first hospice in Colorado.
In fact, hospice care often makes a considerable difference for those with months to live. When someone is further out from death, we can really focus on enhancing their quality of life, said Rachel Behrendt, senior vice president of Hospice of the Valley, which serves the Phoenix metropolitan area.
New research confirms that hospice patients report better pain control, more satisfaction with their care and fewer deaths in the hospital or intensive care units.
What should seniors and their families, the largest users of hospice care, expect? Its fairly well understood that patients forgo curative therapies in favor of comfort care when they enter hospice. Here are additional features:
FOUR LEVELS OF CARE: Hospice providers are required to offer routine care in patients homes (this includes seniors who reside in assisted living or nursing homes); continuous care at home for people with out-of-control symptoms such as pain or breathing problems; inpatient respite for families that need a break from caring for a loved one; and general inpatient care for medical crises that cant be handled in any other setting.
With continuous care, a nurse must be on-site in the home for at least eight hours a day, helping to bring symptoms under control. Usually, this will happen in one to three days. Respite care has a maximum limit of five days.
Some hospices have their own general inpatient facilities and its a common misconception that patients are sent to inpatient hospice to die, said Jean Cohn, clinical manager at Montgomery Hospices inpatient facility, Casey House. In fact, were frequently fine-tuning patients regimens in inpatient hospice and sending them back home.
INTERMITTENT CARE AT HOME: Routine care at home is by far the most common service, accounting for about 94 percent of hospice care, according to the latest report from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.
While services vary depending on a patients needs, home care typically involves at least one weekly visit from a nurse and a couple of visits from aides for up to 90 minutes. Also, a volunteer may visit, if a patient and family so choose, and social workers and chaplains are available to address practical and spiritual concerns.
Hospices will provide all medications needed to address the underlying illness that is expected to cause the patients death, as well as medical equipment such as hospital beds, commodes, wheelchairs, walkers and oxygen. Typically, there is no charge for such gear, although a copay of up to $5 per prescription is allowed.
What families and patients often dont realize: Hospice staff will not be in the home every day, around the clock. Many people think that hospice will be there all the time, but it doesnt work that way, Brandt said. The family is still the front line for providing day-to-day care.
In assisted living, patients or their families may have to hire nursing assistants or companions to provide supplemental care, since hands-on help is limited. In nursing homes, aides may visit less often, since more hands-on help is available on-site.
SELF-REFERRALS ARE ALLOWED: Anyone can ask for a consultation with a hospice. We get many self-referrals, as well as referrals from family and friends, said Behrendt of Hospice of the Valley. Usually, a nurse will go out and do a preliminary assessment to determine if a person would qualify for hospice services.
To be admitted, two physicians the patients primary care physician and the hospice physician need to certify that the persons life expectancy is six months or less, based on the anticipated trajectory of the patients underlying illness. And recertification will be required at regular intervals.
YOU CHOOSE YOUR PHYSICIAN: You have a right to keep your primary care physician or you can choose to have a hospice physician be in charge of your medical care.
At JourneyCare, the largest hospice in Illinois, we prefer that the patient keeps their primary care physician because that physician knows them best, said Dr. Mark Grzeskowiak, vice president of medical services.
These arrangements require close collaboration. For instance, if a nurse observes that a patient with heart failure is experiencing increased shortness of breath, JourneyCare staff will get in touch with that patients primary care physician. The physician is responsible for altering the treatment plan; the hospice is responsible for implementing that plan and giving clear instructions to the patient and family.
CONCERNS ABOUT MEDICATIONS: Theres a misconception that youre going to be medicated to a highly sedated state in hospice, said Dr. Christopher Kerr, chief executive officer and chief medical officer for Hospice Buffalo Inc. in upstate New York. The reality is our primary goal is to increase quality wakefulness. Managing these medications is an art and were good at it.
Family caregivers are on the front line since theyre responsible for administering pain medications such as morphine. Absolutely, theres a great deal of fear and anxiety around all the issues associated with giving medications, said Cohn of Montgomery Hospice. We try to reassure caregivers that the doses we start with are very small and well see how the patient reacts and go slowly and deliberately from there.
Because most hospice stays are short the median length is only 17 days and because the diversion of painkillers from peoples homes is a risk, doctors have begun writing prescriptions for a week or two at a time, said Judi Lund Person, vice president of regulatory and compliance for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. If concerns exist, hospices can have a lockbox for medications sent to the home.
DISCHARGES ARE POSSIBLE: Estimating when someone is going to die is an art, not a science, and each year hundreds of thousands of hospice patients end up living longer than doctors anticipated.
If physicians can document continued decline in these patients for instance, worsening pain or a noticeable advance in their underlying illness they might be able to re-certify them for ongoing hospice care. But if the patient is considered stable, theyll be discharged, various experts said.
In 2015, nearly 17 percent of hospice patients were so-called live discharges, according to a report from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. Two days before a discharge, hospices are required to give the patient or family members a Notice of Medicare Non-Coverage. Expedited appeals of discharge decisions can be lodged with a Medicare quality improvement organization.
There are no regulatory requirements governing what hospices should do to facilitate live discharges. Some hospices will spend weeks helping patients make arrangements to receive medications, medical equipment and ongoing care from other sources. Others offer minimal help.
AT THE VERY END: Almost 1 in 8 hospice patients dont get visits from professional staff during their last two days of life, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine last year. And this can leave families without needed support.
Some hospices have responded by creating programs specifically for people who have a very short time left to live. Weve put together a special team for people who are expected to live 10 days or less because that requires a different kind of management, said Ann Mitchell, chief executive officer of Montgomery Hospice. Instead of a nurse for every 15 patients, a nurse on this team will have five to six patients and a social worker is available seven days a week.
One-third of our patients are here for less than seven days and often we get them in a crisis, said Kerr of Hospice Buffalo. Weve had to repurpose our services to address the urgency and complexity of these patients needs and that means we have to be ever more present. Across the board, Hospice Buffalo requires that patients be seen within 24 hours of an expected death.
Burglary and theft reports last week in Pearland included the swiping of copper wire, groceries and a motorcycle as well as a dognapping, authorities said.
BURGLARY
Burglary of a building was reported Sept. 11 in the 2800 block of Business Center Drive, police said.
Police filed a motor vehicle burglary report Sept. 11 in the 13600 block of Wild Lilac Court.
Burglary of a habitation was reported Sept. 11 in the 11700 block of Broadway Street, police said.
A burglary report was taken Sept. 12 in the 2500 block of Alexander Lane, police said.
Items were taken from vehicles without permission Sept. 13 or Sept. 14 in the 1900 block of Hatfield Road, police said. Vehicle burglaries also were reported nearby in the 5600 block of Walker Drive and the 2400 block of Walker Court at about the same time.
Items were reported stolen from a detached garage Sept. 14 in the 2400 block of Business Center Drive, police said.
Police completed a motor vehicle burglary report Sept. 15 in the 5600 block of Tyler Street.
A business was burglarized between Sept. 12 and Sept. 14 in the 1100 block of Main Street, according to a Sept. 15 police report.
A motor vehicle burglary was attempted Sept. 15 in the Pearland Town Center parking lot, 11200 Broadway St., police said.
Police investigated a burglary of a building report Sept. 16 in the 2500 block of Pearland Parkway.
Burglary of a motor vehicle was reported Sept. 16 in the 2300 block of Smith Ranch Road, police said.
A vehicle was burglarized Sept. 17 in the 3400 block of Kendall Street, police said.
Two suspects reportedly were observed opening car doors Sept. 17 in a parking lot in the 2700 block of Main Street, police said.
Police filed three motor vehicle burglary reports Sept. 17 in the 11200 block of Armstrong Lane.
THEFT
Several feet of copper wire were taken Sept. 11 from a pump station in the 4900 block of Main Street, police said.
Theft was reported Sept. 11 in the 11500 block of Shadow Creek Parkway, police said.
Police completed a theft report Sept. 11 in the 7900 block of Fite Road.
A theft report was completed Sept. 11 in the 3700 block of Banyan Wood Way, police said.
Batteries were stolen out of heavy machinery at a construction site Sept. 12 in the 2900 block of Old Chocolate Bayou Road, police said. Ten pipes also were taken.
Police arrested a Pearland man, 20, for theft of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance after a traffic stop Sept. 12 in the 1600 block of Main Street. A 20-year-old Houston man also was arrested for possession of a controlled substance.
Theft of service occurred Sept. 12 in the 10000 block of Broadway Street, police said.
Police arrested a Pearland woman, 36, for shoplifting Sept. 12 in the 2700 block of Pearland Parkway.
A wallet was reported stolen between Sept. 8 and Sept. 12 in the 2600 block of Pearland Parkway, police said.
Shoplifting occurred Sept. 13 in the 2000 block of Main Street, police said.
The front license plate was taken from a vehicle between Aug. 25 and Sept. 9 in the 2900 block of Oak Road, according to a Sept. 13 police report.
Police filed a shoplifting report Sept. 13 in the 9500 block of Broadway Street.
A dog was taken from a business Sept. 13 in the 3700 block of Broadway Street, police said.
Theft was reported Sept. 14 in the 3000 block of Meadowmist Court, police said.
A male suspect stole a shopping cart full of groceries Sept. 14 from Walmart Neighborhood Market, 12631 Broadway St., police said.
A cellular phone was reported stolen Sept. 14 at Wendy's, 11630 Broadway St., police said.
Theft was reported Sept. 15 in the 2000 block of Main Street and the 2700 block of Green Tee Drive, police said.
A motorcycle was reported stolen Sept. 15 in the 3800 block of Skylark Way, police said.
A Pasadena man, 39, was taken into custody for unauthorized use of a vehicle Sept. 15 in the 1000 block of Main Street, police said.
A vehicle was taken without permission Sept. 15 in the 1700 block of Sleepy Hollow Drive, police said.
Three juveniles reportedly shoplifted Sept. 16 at Macy's, 11200 Broadway St., police said.
Theft of a motor vehicle was reported Sept. 16 in the 3400 block of Trelawney Drive, police said.
A wallet was stolen Sept. 16 in the 2800 blocK of Pearland Parkway, according to a Sept. 17 police report. The victim later discovered her credit card had been used without permission, police said.
Police arrested a Houston woman, 18, for shoplifting Sept. 17 in the 11200 block of Broadway Street.
Theft occurred between Aug. 13 and Sept. 9 in the 1700 block of Sleepy Hollow Drive, according to a Sept. 17 police report.
Police conducted a theft investigation Sept. 17 in the 10000 block of Broadway Street.
Shoplifting was reported Sept. 17 in the 6100 block of Broadway Street, police said.
FORGERY, FRAUD
Police completed a forgery report Sept. 11 in the 11100 block of West Broadway Street.
An unknown suspect used a victim's identity information to obtain credit and make withdrawals from personal bank accounts between May 16 and Sept. 11, according to a police report filed Sept. 11 in the 2900 block of Veva Drive.
An unknown male offender passed a counterfeit check Aug. 10 at a business in the 4200 block of Broadway Street, according to a Sept. 12 police report.
Forgery occurred between Sept. 6 and Sept. 11 in 3100 block of Laurel Bend Lane, according to a Sept. 12 police report.
A complainant's identity information was used to open an account at a business without authorization Sept. 9, according to a police report filed Sept. 14 in the 2300 block of Scarlatti Drive.
An unknown suspect used a victim's debit card to make online purchases without authorization Sept. 8, according to a police report filed Sept. 14 in the 3400 block of Cactus Heights Lane.
Credit card abuse took place between Aug. 22 and Sept. 17, according to a police report filed Sept. 17 in the 16600 block of Ewing Lane.
NARCOTICS
A juvenile male student was found in possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia Sept. 11 at Pearland High School, 3775 S. Main St., police said.
A Pearland man, 19, and a Fresno man, 20, were found in possession of marijuana during a traffic stop Sept. 11 in the 2000 block of Mykawa Road, police said.
Police issued a citation for possession of drug paraphernalia during a traffic stop Sept. 12 in the 4500 block of West Walnut Street.
Police took a male suspect into custody for marijuana possession Sept. 12 in the 2600 block of Cullen Parkway.
A Pearland man, 19, was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia Sept. 12 in the 7300 block of Broadway Street, police said.
Police took a Baytown man, 38, into custody for possession of a controlled substance Sept. 13 in the 13500 block of Texas 288.
A Pasadena woman, 33, was arrested for marijuana possession Sept. 14 in the 2400 block of South Texas Avenue, police said.
Police cited a Houston man, 27, for possession of drug paraphernalia Sept. 14 in the 16500 block of Texas 288.
A Houston man, 38, received a citation for possession of drug paraphernalia Sept. 14 in the 2700 block of Cullen Parkway, police said.
A Houston man, 23, was arrested for marijuana possession Sept. 14 in the 2200 block of Main Street, police said.
Police arrested a 20-year-old Pearland man and two 18-year-old Pearland men for marijuana possession Sept. 15 in the 2800 block of Main Street.
A Houston man, 38, was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia Sept. 16 in the 3500 block of Broadway Street, police said.
Police arrested a Houston man, 20, for marijuana possession Sept. 17 in the 2400 block of Cullen Parkway.
ASSAULT
Police charged a male suspect with assault, family violence Sept. 11 in the 13400 block of Harborside Lane.
Family violence occurred July 21 in the 3800 block of Somerville Lake Court, according to a Sept. 11 police report.
Police arrested a Pearland man, 40, for assault Sept. 11 in the 5100 block of Lockhart Drive.
Assault, family violence was reported Sept. 12 in the 12100 block of Shadow Creek Parkway, police said.
Assault was reported Sept. 15 in the 14600 block of Kirby Drive, police said.
Assault reportedly occurred between Sept. 14 and Sept. 15 in the 10100 block of Olive Mount Street, police said.
Police completed an assault report Sept. 15 in the 2900 block of Oak Road.
Police arrested a Pearland woman, 31, for assault, family violence Sept. 17 in the 2400 block of Laura Lane.
Assault was reported Sept. 17 in the 11000 block of Shadow Creek Parkway, police said.
Police filed an assault report Sept. 17 in the 2100 block of Country Place Parkway.
Assault took place Sept. 17 in the 11200 block of Broadway Street, police said.
ROBBERY
Robbery was reported Sept. 11 in the 3200 block of Broadway Street, police said.
THREATS, HARASSMENT
Threats were reported Sept. 12 in the 1500 block of Broadway Street, police said.
Threats reportedly were transmitted via text message Aug. 18, according to a police report filed Sept. 13 in the 2200 block of Business Center Drive.
Harassment occurred between Sept. 8 and Sept. 13 in the 1900 block of Winding Creek Drive, according to a Sept. 13 police report.
CRIMINAL MISCHIEF
Police filed a criminal mischief report Sept. 12 in the 5200 block of Magnolia Road.
Police arrested a Pearland man, 59, for criminal mischief Sept. 15 in the 4800 block of Linden Place.
A vehicle was reported damaged Sept. 16 in the 2700 block of Broadway Street, police said.
Criminal mischief was reported Sept. 16 in the 3400 block of Bailey Springs Lane, police said.
PUBLIC INTOXICATION
Police arrested two Galveston men, 20 and 21, for public intoxication Sept. 12 in the 6100 block of Broadway Street.
Police took a Houston woman, 40, into custody for public intoxication Sept. 13 in the 2800 block of Business Center Drive.
A report of gambling led to the arrest of a Friendswood man, 78, for public intoxication Sept. 14 in the 4400 block of Broadway Street, police said.
Police took a 27-year-old Prairie Village, Kansas, man into custody for public intoxication Sept. 17 in the 4000 block of Spring Brook Court, police said.
DRIVING WHILE INTOXICATED
Police arrested an Alvin woman, 39, for DWI Sept. 12 in the 5000 block of Main Street.
A Pearland woman, 45, was arrested for DWI Sept. 13 in the 4400 block of Broadway Street, police said.
Police arrested a Pearland man, 48, for DWI Sept. 13 in the 7000 block of Broadway Street.
A Houston man, 22, was arrested for DWI and narcotics possession Sept. 14 in the 8600 block of McHard Road, police said.
A Pearland woman, 26, was taken into custody for DWI Sept. 14 in the 5700 block of Magnolia Road, police said.
Police arrested a Pearland man, 52, for DWI Sept. 15 in the 3700 block of Main Street.
A Houston man, 27, was arrested for DWI Sept. 16 in the 6400 block of Broadway Street, police said.
A Pearland man, 38, was arrested for DWI Sept. 16 in the 3900 block of Dixie Farm Road, police said.
Police arrested a Pearland man, 39, for DWI Sept. 16 in the 4700 block of Scott Lane.
A Galveston man, 28, was arrested for DWI Sept. 17 in the 8900 block of Broadway Street, police said.
A 34-year-old Pearland woman was arrested for DWI Sept. 17 in the 7200 block of Broadway Street, police said.
An Alvin man, 29, was arrested for DWI Sept. 17 in the 1900 block of Main Street, police said.
FAILURE TO IDENTIFY
Police arrested a Fresno woman, 46, for failure to identify Sept. 13 in the 16600 block of Texas 288. A 43-year-old Fresno man also was arrested for outstanding warrants.
TRAFFIC
Police arrested a Baytown man, 33, for driving while license invalid Sept. 14 in the 16600 block of Texas 288.
A Brazoria County man, 27, was arrested for driving while license invalid and warrants Sept. 14 in the 2000 block of Business Center Drive, police said.
A pedestrian was struck during a hit-and-run incident Sept. 14 in the 3500 block of Whitestone Drive, police said.
Police arrested a Houston man, 25, for operating a vehicle with a fictitious or altered license plate Sept. 16 in the 14700 block of Texas 288.
A Houston man, 33, was arrested for driving while license invalid and fictitious license plate Sept. 16 in the 14700 block of Texas 288, police said. A 37-year-old Houston woman also was arrested for a traffic warrant.
A traffic stop Sept. 17 in the 3200 block of Broadway Street led to the arrest of a Pearland man, 35, for no driver's license.
ENTICING A CHILD
An attempted enticing of a child was reported Sept. 14 in the 2100 block of Tipperary Drive, police said.
WEAPONS
Police completed a report for unlawful possession of a firearm Sept. 16 in the 3400 block of Veterans Drive.
EVADING ARREST, DETENTION
An unknown male on an off-road motorcycle evaded detention Sept. 16 in the 3000 block of McLean Road, police said.
North Korea's foreign minister warned Saturday that a strike against the U.S. mainland is "inevitable" because President Donald Trump mocked leader Kim Jong Un with a belittling nickname "little rocketman."
U.S. bombers escorted by fighter jets flew off the North Korean coast in a show of force shortly before Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho strode to the podium to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York, capping an extraordinary week of militaristic threats from both nations before an organization founded to maintain international peace.
Ri said that Trump's bombast had made "our rockets' visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable," and linked it to Trump's insulting shorthand references to Kim.
Harsh sanctions placed on North Korea's trade with the outside world will have no impact on its ability to complete building a nuclear bomb capable of reaching the United States, Ri said.
"Through such a prolonged and arduous struggle, now we are finally only a few steps away from the final gate of completion of the state nuclear force," he said.
"It is only a forlorn hope to consider any chance that the DPRK would be shaken an inch or change its stance due to the harsher sanctions by the hostile forces," he said, using the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The rhetoric between Trump and Kim has grown exceptionally personal. At a rally Friday night in Alabama, Trump called Kim "little rocketman," magnifying the disparaging label he slung at Kim in his U.N. speech Tuesday in which he threatened the United States would "totally destroy" North Korea in defense. He said Kim was on "suicide mission."
Kim in turn called Trump a "frightened dog" and a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard." Ri echoed those sentiments Saturday, calling the president a "mentally deranged person full of megalomania" and referring to him "President Evil."
"None other than Trump himself is on a suicide mission," Ri said in broad denunciation of Trump that brought applause from the North Korean delegation. "In case innocent lives of the U.S. are harmed because of this suicide attack, Trump will be held totally responsible."
Ri emphasized said Pyongyang has a hydrogen bomb that can fit on an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. Ri said Korea was prepared to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific.
"Trump might not have been aware what is uttered from his mouth, but we will make sure that he bears consequences far beyond his words, far beyond the scope of what he can handle even if he is ready to do so," Ri said.
On Friday, Trump kept up his verbal fusillade against Kim, tweeting that Kim is a "madman" who will be "tested like never before."
Tensions escalated so quickly that when an 3.5 magnitude earthquake was detected in North Korea Saturday in near a nuclear test site, it aroused suspicions of another underground nuclear test. It was quickly confirmed as just an earthquake.
Heated exchanges between Trump and North Korea came just as diplomatic pressure starts to bear fruit. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last week that sanctions are beginning to have an effect. China, North Korea's economic lifeline, imposed greater sanctions, including caps on oil. Thursday, Trump signed an executive order giving the Treasury Department more authority to cut off trade that helps finance North Korea's nuclear programs.
The Pentagon disclosed that U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers flew in international airspace east of North Korea. The Pentagon said it was the farthest north of the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea any U.S. plane has flown this century. The bombers flew from Guam escorted by fighter jets from Okinawa, Japan.
The 2017 hurricane season has been a full-on assault from Mother Nature. We are under siege, and our attackers have benign names like Harvey and Irma and Maria. But they are callous, powerful, indiscriminate, terrifying, destructive, merciless and relentless.
Is Earth trying to eject us from the planet? Again and again and again the harshest of winds and hardest of rains has pounded on the most-defenseless territories we have. The Caribbean islands, hanging out in open sea. The Florida peninsula, jutting out into danger. The Texas coastline, low-lying and concrete-laden. Nearly a full month of back-to-back-to-back disasters.
This hurricane season - not yet even close to finished - has generated more destructive, land-falling storms than the past few years combined. Four of this year's monsters went on to become Category 4 or 5, and three of those made landfall in U.S. territory. The U.S. has never been hit by three storms this strong in the same season in modern records.
Hurricane Harvey seemed to spin up in an instant before hitting land on Aug. 26, only to come to rest for days over Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana. A mind-boggling 19 trillion gallons of rain fell in that storm, which triggered unprecedented flooding. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott estimates Harvey will cost the state up to $180 billion - more than epic Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricane Irma was one of the strongest ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean. When Irma maintained 180 mph wind speeds for 37 hours, it set a record for most intense storm for such a long duration - anywhere on Earth. It made landfall Sept. 10, strafing the Florida Keys before terrorizing both Florida coasts in vastly different ways. It knocked out power to millions of people, and some are still waiting for the lights to come back on.
Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico 10 days later as the strongest storm to hit the island since the 1928 San Felipe hurricane. It thrashed the U.S. territory with winds over 100 mph and more than 30 inches of rain. All of Puerto Rico lost power and was under flash flood warnings. The full extent of the damage, and the loss of life, might not be known for some time. It could take months to restore infrastructure.
All of this in just four weeks.
It spurs so many questions: Is this barrage random? Is it part of a natural cycle? Is it the result of climate change? Have we done this to ourselves?
Officials at the highest levels - who create, pass and sign the very policies that affect the environment - are bending over backward to dodge those questions. The political tension is palpable.
"To have any kind of focus on the cause and effect of the storm; versus helping people, or actually facing the effect of the storm, is misplaced," EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt told CNN as Hurricane Irma approached Florida.
When the question was posed to President Donald Trump on his way to visit hurricane-battered Florida, he replied: "We've had storms over the years that have been bigger than this."
To our struggling politicians, Pope Francis offered some advice: Climate change is happening, and you have a "moral responsibility" to do something about it.
"Those who deny this must go to the scientists and ask them," he said on a recent trip to Colombia. "They speak very clearly."
If they continue to deny climate change, he added, "history will judge those decisions."
This hurricane season is, indisputably, a nightmare. And it's indisputable that climate change is affecting our weather. The fingerprint of climate change is on every storm, it's in every raindrop and sunny day. It is a new, yet untested and ill-understood, factor in the way our planet works.
But there are additional elements that had to come together to create such a hellish year.
Hurricanes exist to cool the tropics. The vast majority of sunlight beats down in the 23 degrees north and south of the equator. Without something to disperse the energy toward the poles, Earth's climate would become unbalanced, quickly.
These planetary heat engines sprout from relatively weak clusters of thunderstorms - waves of low pressure from the coast of Africa - and fester in the warm waters of the Atlantic. They feed on tropical moisture and the sun's intense energy and, eventually, if they get large enough, will start to spin thanks to Earth's top-like motion.
Hurricanes can form in rapid succession and travel thousands of miles across the Atlantic, like rail cars on a train track or airplanes lining up for takeoff. Because they can gain steam, spinning themselves up into monstrosities, it's a trip that can end in the devastation of places like St. Croix, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Southwest Louisiana. One after the other.
We saw this alignment in 2005, and we're seeing it again in 2017.
"This isn't a random coming together," said Gerry Bell, a hurricane climate specialist at NOAA. It's a specific combination of environmental factors.
The Atlantic Ocean is in a pattern that's particularly favorable for hurricanes. Every couple of decades, the pattern flips, but it's been positive since about 1995.
There have been some exceptionally big seasons in the past two decades. The extreme years tend to happen when the things that weaken hurricanes are not present - like El Nino and chaotic, hurricane-killing winds over the Atlantic Ocean. When those forces stand down, the favorable pattern goes to work.
Factor in some exceptionally warm ocean water and it becomes nearly impossible to avoid a strong season.
"We are seeing some of the hottest ocean temperatures in the planet in the western Caribbean Sea," said Michael Ventrice, a research meteorologist at The Weather Company. "This is like rocket fuel for developing tropical cyclones. A major concern for late-season development."
But hurricanes need to make landfall to generate the kind of disasters seen so far this year. Steering winds determine their path, though they aren't always as predictable as forecasters would like. Which Florida coast would receive Hurricane Irma's landfall - Miami or the Gulf - was a result of uncertainty in the wind forecast. It hit near Naples, Fla. and went north, but the massive storm covered the entire state, knocking out power to millions and causing flooding and damage from the Florida Keys to Jacksonville and beyond.
The Florida Peninsula is only about 100 miles wide - a tiny distance on a global scale. Hurricane Irma was going to turn north somewhere near South Florida, forecasters knew that. But a few miles of deviation meant some people were spared while others were inundated with storm surge and damaging winds.
In the same way, Puerto Rico avoided Irma's destructive inner core, only to be devastated by Hurricane Maria. These winds are fickle, but deadly.
If we zoom out to the big picture, though, the steering winds over the Atlantic Ocean have been very predictable this season. Unfortunately for all the humans who live there, the winds have been guiding hurricanes straight into the Caribbean islands and the southern United States.
It's a significant shift. For the past decade, those winds were coming from the west, pushing hurricanes away from land and out to sea, rendering them largely harmless.
"We were very fortunate, since 2005," Bell said. "But it was just a matter of time before they were going to start making landfall again."
This year is remarkably similar to 2005, when storm after storm exploded over the Caribbean and then made landfall. Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma are among the more memorable of that year.
The 2017 season is only half over. There will be more storms, and the wind isn't going to change any time soon. At least one forecast company thinks this heightened level of activity will continue.
"I would be surprised if October wasn't more active than normal, with one or more potential threats to the eastern Gulf Coast originating in the central or western Caribbean," Ryan Truchelut, the president of WeatherTiger, predicted.
More potential threats, more hurricanes. More lives lost and more destruction.
"A lot of people have already been through a lifetime of impacts, but there are going to be more storms, we know that," Bell warned. "They have to stay prepared."
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The Washington Post's Jason Samenow contributed to this report.
BERLIN - Even as her global stature grows, longtime German Chancellor Angela Merkel may find her wings somewhat clipped at home.
Sunday's election, which bookends a year of high-stakes contests in Europe, looks set to saddle Merkel, and the government she leads, with forceful opposition from the far right, as the nationalist, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party (AfD) claimed the third-largest share of votes. The challenge could define her fourth term.
"Of course we were hoping for a better result," Merkel said in brief remarks at her party's headquarters. "We want to win back the AfD voters by registering their worries and their fears."
Politicians on the right flank of her conservative bloc offered a more blunt conclusion.
"We made the mistake of leaving our right flank somewhat open," Horst Seehofer, the chairman of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian counterpart of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, told the public broadcaster ARD. He clashed with Merkel over her liberal stance to the refugee crisis that buffeted Germany in 2015.
If Merkel completes her fourth term, she will have led Europe's most powerful economy for 16 years, making her the longest-serving head of a major European state since Helmut Kohl, her mentor and the architect of German reunification in 1990. Merkel, 63, is the lone woman to have held the role and the only German chancellor from the former communist east.
She has governed alongside three American and four French presidents, as well as four British, six Italian and seven Japanese prime ministers. She led Europe's response to the 2008-2009 financial crisis, confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin over his country's annexation of Crimea and refused to close Germany's borders as hundreds of thousands of refugees, mostly Syrians, set their sights on northern Europe.
The unassuming daughter of a Lutheran pastor who spent half her life shut off from the West, Merkel is perhaps today's leading voice for the political, economic and security arrangements put into place after World War II that define the liberal Western order.
Merkel, however, has not inoculated Germany from the electoral volatility undermining the political establishment and fomenting rage against incumbents in democracies across Europe. She has nevertheless managed to channel these forces at least partially to her advantage, preserving her command over the political mainstream while raising questions about the future of German politics when Merkel stands down.
Her party received a much lower share of the vote than it did in 2013 - 33 percent, according to projections, compared with 41.5 percent four years ago - and support for extreme factions mounted.
Her nonideological style of governance has made her Christian Democratic Union a catchall for centrist interests while paralyzing its main rival, the Social Democratic Party, which captured just 21 percent of the vote, according to early returns.
Her apparent readiness to back any broadly popular policy has solidified the political center but it has also ceded ground on the right to the AfD, which was projected to have won 13.3 percent of the vote. Founded as an anti-euro party in 2013, the AfD made opposition to Merkel's refugee policy the focal point of its campaign and will become the first far-right party in the German Parliament since the early 1960s.
Merkel has ruled out governing in a coalition with the AfD, and her allies say she will not be bullied to move further to the right by the noisy party, whose main project is demonizing her.
"She is not willing to take decisions closer to what the AfD is asking for," said Jurgen Hardt, a Christian Democratic lawmaker from North Rhine-Westphalia and foreign policy spokesman for Merkel's ruling coalition.
But the chancellor's campaign shied away from a well-defined argument for Germany's future, seeking mainly to immobilize her opponents and flex the power of her personal brand.
She opted for a prominent use of Germany's national colors in the party's campaign material at the end of last year, an effort to blunt the nationalist appeal of the AfD after it surpassed her party in a state election. Meanwhile, she backed her party's call for a partial ban on the full-face veil worn by some Muslim women.
When her Social Democratic challenger, Martin Schulz, ramped up his attacks on President Donald Trump ahead of his decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord, Merkel distanced herself from the White House, telling supporters in a Bavarian beer tent, "We Europeans truly have to take our fate into our own hands." And when several potential coalition partners suggested that support for the legalization of same-sex marriage would be a condition of their cooperation in the new government, Merkel ceased blocking the matter, allowing it to pass in a snap vote, even though she personally opposed legalization.
"She's very good at collecting information," said Thomas Strerath, head of the advertising agency that designed her campaign materials, Jung von Matt. "She gets into the details, she hesitates and then she makes her final decision in the very last moment."
This is roughly the process by which Merkel, in September 2015, decided not to close Germany's borders to a torrent of asylum seekers rushing into Europe, according to German journalist Robin Alexander's new account, whose title can be translated as "The Driven Ones: Merkel and Refugee Politics." Operating largely independently of leading members of her party and guided by favorable polling, Merkel made a pragmatic decision to keep Germany's borders open and became the face of Europe's ultimately haphazard response to the refugee crisis.
The chancellor is increasingly autonomous in her decision-making and isolated from external advice, said one of her biographers, Stefan Kornelius, international editor of the daily Suddeutsche Zeitung.
She is also more cautious, he said, acutely aware of the global attention she has garnered and mindful that "she can't afford to misspeak or behave oddly."
Her steeliness - which masks her jovial personality, according to those who know her - has inspired trust within the CDU, whose members see Merkel's global stature as central to their appeal.
In an expression of their devotion, they refer to her as "Mutti," or mommy.
"We don't say chancellor; we say 'Mutti,' " said Tino Sorge, a Christian Democratic lawmaker who at 42 is a member of the party's younger generation. "Mommy will do all the things she has to do."
Voters voiced similar trust. "I feel safe with her," said Thomas Kaiser, 47, who runs a taxi company in Potsdam.
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Alexandra Rojkov contributed to this report.
Two-thirds of Americans oppose launching a preemptive military strike against North Korea, with a majority trusting the U.S. military to handle the escalating nuclear crisis responsibly but not President Donald Trump, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds.
Roughly three-quarters of the public supports tougher economic sanctions on North Korea in an attempt to persuade it to give up its nuclear weapons, while just about one-third think the United States should offer the isolated country foreign aid or other incentives.
The Post-ABC poll finds 37 percent of adults trust Trump either "a great deal" or "a good amount" to responsibly handle the situation with North Korea, while 42 percent trust the commander in chief "not at all." By comparison, 72 percent trust U.S. military leaders, including 43 percent saying they trust them "a great deal."
A scant 8 percent of Americans surveyed think North Korean leader Kim Jong Un can act responsibly.
Overall, Trump's image continues to be negative, with 39 percent of Americans approving and 57 percent disapproving of the president's job performance. But the poll finds that clear majorities approve of Trump's response to recent hurricanes and support the agreement he struck with Democrats providing emergency disaster-relief funding and raising the nation's debt limit.
A war of words this past week between Trump and Kim may have opened a potentially dangerous new chapter in the North Korea crisis.
Kim called Trump "a mentally deranged U.S. dotard," Trump denounced Kim as a "madman," and each vowed to test the other as never before. Washington rolled out new sanctions Thursday and made a show of military force Saturday by flying bombers along the North Korea coast, a day after Pyongyang said it might soon conduct a hydrogen bomb test over the Pacific.
Trump's use of aggressively personal taunts - the president nicknamed Kim "Rocket Man" in an address at the United Nations last week - defies convention and is seen by veteran diplomats as exceedingly risky.
The large gap in confidence between Trump and the U.S. military, as measured in the new poll, comes as Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other national security officials have emphasized a diplomatic approach to North Korea. Although Mattis has made clear that the United States is prepared and willing to retaliate to any attack with overwhelming force, he also has shied away from the rhetorical bombast employed by his boss.
Faith in Trump's handling of the biggest foreign policy crisis of his presidency is colored sharply by partisanship. While 11 percent of Democrats and 36 percent of independents say they trust Trump to act responsibly in dealing with North Korea, more than three-quarters of Republicans say they trust the president, although just over half trust him "a great deal."
Partisans are relatively united, however, in their concern about nuclear-armed North Korea. A record high 70 percent of Americans say North Korea poses a "serious threat" to the United States, including roughly 7 in 10 Democrats and independents and about 8 in 10 Republicans.
Trump's overall job approval rating has stabilized at 39 percent in the new poll after slipping to 36 percent in July. The shift is within the poll's margin of sampling error but is mirrored in the small rise in other recent national polls. Still, more Americans "strongly" disapprove of his job performance, 48 percent, than approve of it either "strongly" or "somewhat."
The Post-ABC poll finds 65 percent of Americans support the agreement reached this month between Trump and Democratic congressional leaders to authorize emergency hurricane-relief spending and raise the federal government's borrowing limit.
Two-thirds of Democrats and more than 6 in 10 independents back the agreement. And although the measure marked a rebuke of Republican leaders in Congress, it has the support of more than three-quarters of Republicans and a similar share of conservative Republicans.
Trump also receives a positive grade for his response to Hurricanes Harvey in Texas and Irma in Florida, with 56 percent approving of his handling of the disasters, including nearly one-third of Democrats.
Seven in 10 rate the overall federal response as "excellent" or "good." That is less glowing than ratings for the government's handling of Hurricane Sandy during the Obama administration in 2012, but far better than the public's assessment of the response by the administration of George W. Bush to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when fewer than 4 in 10 gave the federal government positive marks.
Trump's high marks on hurricanes and the spending deal with Democrats in Congress have failed to ease deep-seated dissatisfaction with his presidency, now entering its ninth month.
Despite positive recent economic news, Trump receives net negative marks on his handling of the economy, with 43 percent approving and 49 percent disapproving.
On immigration, 62 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump's performance, including 51 percent "strongly" disapproving. The Trump administration this month announced an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program created under President Barack Obama, but Trump has since discussed with Democrats a possible plan to restore protections for a group of undocumented immigrants commonly known as "dreamers" - those who were brought to the United States as children.
More broadly, most Americans see Trump as a divisive figure who has yet to fulfill his campaign promise to positively change the way Washington works. More than twice as many Americans say Trump is doing more to divide the country than to unify it, 66 percent vs. 28 percent. The margin is significantly more negative than those recorded for Obama and Bush; at most, 55 percent of Americans said Obama or Bush was dividing the country.
Opinions on this question break sharply along party lines. Among registered voters who identify as independents - a group Trump won by four percentage points in last year's election - 62 percent say Trump has done more to divide the country than unite it, while roughly 9 in 10 Democratic voters say Trump's actions have divided the country.
Among Republican voters, however, about 6 in 10 say Trump is making strides toward unity. Still, confidence in Trump as a unifying force has declined even among those in his party. While 9 percent of Republican voters in a poll last November by The Washington Post and George Mason University's Schar School had expected that Trump would divide the country, the new Post-ABC poll finds 31 percent of Republicans say Trump's actions are dividing the country today.
The poll finds 39 percent of all adults say Trump has brought needed change to Washington, while 59 percent say he has not. Almost three-quarters of Republicans say Trump has ushered in needed change, while most Democrats and independents say he has not.
On North Korea specifically, most Americans are hesitant to support preemptive military action. Fewer than a quarter - 23 percent - of Americans say the United States should strike North Korea first, while 67 percent say there should be U.S. military action only if North Korea attacks the United States or its allies.
More than 6 in 10 Republicans and independents along with more than 7 in 10 Democrats say the United States should not launch a preemptive strike. Even among those who "strongly approve" of Trump's job performance, a majority, almost 6 in 10, oppose preemptive military action.
If the United States did first launch a military strike on North Korea, 82 percent of Americans say it would risk starting a larger war in East Asia, including 69 percent citing a "major risk."
Despite resistance to preemption, however, Americans are much more supportive of military intervention generally than they have been in the past. In a question that did not contrast preemption and retaliation, the new poll finds roughly 4 in 10 Americans support bombing North Korean military targets, up from 2 in 10 in 2005, when North Korea declared itself a nuclear power. Republican support for bombings has more than doubled, from 29 percent in 2005 to 63 percent today. Most Democrats and independents still are opposed.
Beyond military strikes, toughening sanctions on North Korea garners widespread support across party lines, with 76 percent of Americans overall approving.
Other nonmilitary options aimed at pushing North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons are less popular. About one-third of Americans support offering the country financial incentives, such as aid money or more trade, down from about half supporting this approach in 2005. And while Russia and China have called on the United States to reduce its military exercises with South Korea, a key U.S. ally, American public opinion is roughly divided. Forty-three percent think the United States should agree to stop conducting the exercises, while 47 percent oppose doing so.
The Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted Sept. 18-21 among a random national sample of 1,002 adults reached on cellular and landline telephones, with overall results carrying a sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
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The Washington Post's Emily Guskin contributed to this report.
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - In the northern Puerto Rican town of Vega Baja, the floodwaters reached more than 10 feet. Stranded residents screamed "save me, save me," using the lights in their cellphones to help rescue teams find them in the darkness, the town's mayor said.
In Loiza, a north coastal town that already had been ravaged by Hurricane Irma, 90 percent of homes - 3,000 - were destroyed by Hurricane Maria just days later. In communities across the island, bridges collapsed and highways were severely damaged, isolating many residents. In Rio Grande, officials had yet to access a number of families stuck in their homes, three days after the powerful storm made landfall.
When speaking about his town's destruction, Ramon Hernandez Torres, mayor of the southern city of Juana Diaz, took a long pause, his voice catching and his eyes filling with tears.
"It's a total disaster," he said.
Now Playing: Puerto Ricos governor has met mayors from around the US territorial island of Puerto Rico after surveying damage to an earthen dam that was threatening to collapse from flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Hundreds of people who live downstream from the compromised dam, which has formed a lake on the rain-swollen Guajataca River, were under orders to evacuate, with the structure in danger of bursting at any time. We saw directly the damage to the Guajataca dam, Governor Ricardo Rossello said in a Spanish-language Twitter message on Saturday while reinforcing his request that people leave the area as soon as possible. The fissure has become a significant rupture, Rossello said separately at a news conference on Saturday. The US National Weather Service said on its website the dam was still in danger of failing and triggering life-threatening flash floods. Stay away or be swept away, it warned. Video: Euronews
Hurricane Maria pounded the entire island of Puerto Rico on Wednesday, but the scope of the damage had been speculative and unclear since, in large part because towns across the U.S. territory have been completely off the grid. Though images from the air showed incredible destruction, mayors were unable to reach central government for leadership and help because communication was impossible. No telephones, cellphones, or Internet. No power. No passage through roads that had been washed away or blocked with trees and power lines.
But on Saturday, for the first time in days, mayors and representatives from more than 50 municipalities across Puerto Rico met with government officials at the emergency operations command center here in the island's capital city. Many of the mayors learned about the meeting through media reports over satellite radio the night before. One mayor said his staff was informed after a man ran to his offices with a note telling him to make his way to San Juan.
Approximately 20 other mayors across the island still have not been able to make contact with government officials, leaving major gaps in the broader understanding of the damage Maria left behind.
The mayors greeted each other with hugs and tears, and they pleaded with their governor for some of the things their communities need most: drinking water, prescription drugs, gasoline, oxygen tanks, and satellite phones. The entire population remains without electricity. Families everywhere are unable to buy food or medical treatment. Roads remain waterlogged, and looting has begun to take place at night.
"There is horror in the streets," San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz said in a raw, emotional interview with The Washington Post. "People are actually becoming prisoners in their own homes."
"Whenever I walk through San Juan," Yulin said, she sees the "sheer pain in people's eyes. . . . They're kind of glazed, not because of what has happened but because of the difficulty of what will come," she said. "I know we're not going to get to everybody in time. . . . Two days ago I said I was concerned about that. Now I know we won't get to everybody in time."
Oscar Santiago, mayor of the northern coastal city of Vega Alta, said many of his community's families refused to evacuate their flooded homes. One little girl was standing barefoot with her family on a roof, which was littered with nails, he said. When he asked her to put on some sandals, she told him: "The hurricane took them."
Marcos Cruz Molina, mayor of Vega Baja, said even his own wooden home was destroyed, and he has since sought shelter with his parents. Jose Rodriguez, mayor of Hatillo, in the northwest, said "hundreds and hundreds" of homes in his town were obliterated. "It's catastrophic," he said.
The meeting in San Juan came a day after the governor urged residents downstream from Lake Guajataca - a population of nearly 70,000 - to evacuate amid fears that a dam holding the lake back might fail because of damage from Hurricane Maria's floodwaters. Officials said the dam's structural damage was caused by a "fissure," a crack that had grown to a significant "rupture" by Saturday. The dam's failure could lead to massive amounts of water flowing through coastal communities along a river's path to the ocean, and authorities believed evacuation was the only option.
Local authorities said the actual number of residents remaining in those towns at risk of destruction was most likely much lower because of early overestimates, officials said. Evacuations continued on Saturday.
The official death toll on the island from Hurricane Maria has risen to 10. One died when he was struck in the head by a panel, another died in an accident with an excavating machine, three died in landslides, two in flooding in Toa Baja, and two police officers in Aguada drowned when the Culebrinas River overflowed.
One person in Arecibo died after being swept away by rising water. Officials believe there are probably others they haven't yet been able to confirm.
At the intersection of Routes 2 and 1o in Arecibo, employees of the Gulf Express gas station and their families - about 20 people in all - were hard at work Saturday. Their boots and sneakers were caked with mud because there is mud everywhere: On their pants and shirts, in their cars and on the walls of their homes. The makeshift cleanup crew was using brooms to sweep out the grayish brown slop that lay two or three inches thick inside.
After Maria blew threw the city, taking down trees and power lines, the flash floods came.
"The water had to be at least six, maybe seven feet high," said Nelson Rodriguez, an employee at the Gulf Express. "It took everything. All the medicine in the pharmacy, all the food, it's gone."
Every home and business in this part of Arecibo was affected by the flooding. Two blocks away from the gas station, Eduardo Carraquillo, 45, helped his father, Ismael Freytes, 69, clean the mud out of their yellow, first-floor apartment. Inside, a film, rising six feet high on the walls, marked where water stagnated for much of a full day.
"The water just pushed through the door, as if it had been left open," Carraquillo said. "We all evacuated the day after the storm, because we were warned about the flash flood that might come. Everyone left, just to be safe, except for two older men that lived a few houses away. They just didn't want to leave. When we came back, we found out the flood had killed them right there in that apartment."
Some Puerto Rico officials believe it could be months before the island recovers and that it will be at least a year before some sense of normalcy returns.
Officials estimate it will take three weeks for hospitals to regain power, and about six months for the rest of the island to have electricity. By Saturday, 25 percent of the population had telecommunications connections.
Gov. Ricardo Rossello announced efforts to centralize medical care and shelters for the elderly. He also plans to distribute 250 satellite phones among mayors to facilitate communication. He said he urged the mayors to develop a "buddy system" with other local officials.
Yulin, San Juan's mayor, said she has never seen such devastation, but she also said she has never seen such determination to make it. She described a phrase she keeps hearing from residents: "Yo soy Boricua. I am from Puerto Rico."
"That has become the very courageous way of saying we are going to overcome anything that comes our way," she said.
A janitor stopped Yulin with a request on Friday: "Tell the world we're here," he said, Yulin recounted. "Tell everyone we're fighting. Tell everyone that can listen that we are going to make it."
With her voice faltering, Yulin echoed that cry: "If anyone can hear us . . . help."
"Those are words that no society should have to endure alone or ever," Yulin said. "What I would ask is not only for Puerto Rico, but for the entire Caribbean that has been hit so hard by this: Do not forget us and do not let us feel alone."
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Cassady reported from Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
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Video: San Juan mayor: 'There is horror in the streets'
Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz recounts the many struggles Puerto Rico's capital city is facing as it tries to regain its footing after Hurricane Maria.
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Video: See Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria from the air
Hurricane Maria caused widespread damage to Puerto Rico. Drone footage captured the scene in San Juan and Canovanas on Sept. 21.
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EFFINGHAM Hallie Ochs sat in a hospital bed at HSHS St. Anthonys Memorial Hospital awaiting surgery to take her tonsils and adenoids out.
She wasnt happy.
We didnt tell her until we were leaving what we were doing, said Hallies mom, Brittany Ochs, laughing.
When first handed the plush brown teddy bear in the blue St. Anthony's T-shirt every pediatric surgery patient receives at St. Anthonys, it didnt do much to ease 4-year-old Hallies anxiety.
But when Jill Ruholl, St. Anthonys outpatient surgical services manager, began dressing the bear up in a surgeons uniform, Hallies mind was off her fear at least for a few minutes.
For the past six years, kids who have had surgery at St. Anthonys have received a new teddy bear through the hospitals Hugs & Cuddles Program. Starting in 2011 with a grant to the St. Anthonys Foundation from BP/Meyer Oil, each child receives the teddy bear prior to surgery and gets to take it home.
Recently, the BP/Meyer Oil renewed its sponsorship of the program with another $12,000 contribution, which allowed the program to expand to the imaging and emergency departments.
We like to make our principle donations to charities that benefit the kids. said Randy Meyer, president of Meyer Oil. Nurses have shared very positive comments to our family regarding the childrens reaction to receiving the teddy bears.
Ruholl said kids demeanor prior to surgery is unpredictable sometimes theyre calm, sometimes theyre scared, sometimes theyre angry. A little extra comfort is always a help, which is where the bear comes in.
It gives them some security, Ruholl said. Especially if a kid hasnt brought a stuffed animal from home, you can tell it makes it feel better.
Ruholl said easing the childs worries is also beneficial for the parent.
Its hard to see your kid crying and scared, Ruholl said. It helps everybody have a little less fear.
When Hallie found out she was getting her tonsils out, she closed her mouth and refused to open it except to answer all questions with no.
That was until Ruholl asked Hallie if she wanted to dress her bear up like a surgeon.
OK, Hallie said, with the slightest hint of a smile.
Ruholl provided a surgical mask and hair net, and helped the bear fit into the outfit.
Look at that, Ruholl said to Hallie, who had forgotten she was about to have surgery for the first time since arriving at the hospital.
Is that funny? Brittany asked.
Hallie nodded.
Now you can take him home and show your sisters, Ruholl said.
Hallie was also covered up in a white blanket with colorful butterflies on it she received as part of Project Linus a national organization that provides handmade blankets to kids in the hospital. Blankets are donated to St. Anthonys through the Southern Central Illinois chapter.
St. Anthonys is collecting new donated material from the community to be used, St. Anthonys marketing specialist Sheryl Painter said. They use a room at the hospital and theres a group that comes in every so often and make blankets all day long.
Republican tax negotiators are targeting a corporate tax rate of 20 percent, according to two people familiar with the matter. That would be higher than President Donald Trump wants -- setting up a key decision for the president on a top legislative priority.
Trump has called for cutting the corporate rate to 15 percent, down from the current 35 percent. The plan he'll see this week is also expected to recommend cutting the top individual tax rate to 35 percent, down from 39.6 percent, two people familiar with the matter said.
Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have said previously that they didn't want the tax plan to offer any tax cut to the highest earners -- and that they'd balance a rate cut by eliminating deductions that the wealthy use to reduce their tax bills. Mnuchin said in November, weeks after Trump's election, that "there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class."
Reminded of that on Sunday, Mnuchin said: "It was never a promise and it was never a pledge." But he said again during an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" that the tax plan that's coming this week will be "getting rid of lots of deductions."
"The current plan -- for many, many people, it will not reduce taxes on the high end," Mnuchin said. He also said the plan will provide a middle-income tax cut and said it will create jobs.
Mnuchin didn't mention specific tax rates. Nor did Marc Short, the White House legislative affairs director, during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday." "The president will have to sign off on that and he'll make his announcement on Wednesday," Short said.
Trump plans a trip to Indiana on Wednesday for a speech on tax issues, a person familiar with the planning said. The White House and congressional Republican leaders are preparing for a push in the next few months to pass tax legislation. The drive follows a series of defeats since Trump's inauguration, including their failure so far to repeal Obamacare. Cutting the corporate tax rate is one of Trump's core principles for an overhaul.
While members of Trump's own administration have suggested that Trump's position on the corporate rate might be subject to compromise, the president may yet resist a plan with a rate higher than 15 percent, one person familiar with the matter said.
The people asked not to be identified because details of the tax plan and Trump's schedule have not been publicly announced. Trump said Friday night during a campaign rally in Huntsville, Alabama, that a tax plan would be released this week, and described it as "massive tax cuts."
The effect of such cuts on the $20 trillion federal debt remain to be seen. Last week, a pair of key Republican senators reached an agreement on the framework for a 2018 budget resolution that's expected to allow for a tax cut of $1.5 trillion over 10 years that would add to the deficit -- before accounting for any growth or other economic effects of the cuts. Though proponents say tax cuts would stimulate growth to make up for the shortfall, a budget that allows for deficit-increasing tax cuts would depart from years of GOP support for balanced budgets.
Short said Sunday that Trump's administration "continues to be committed to making sure we're being fiscally responsible." While there may be a short-term decrease in revenue, he said, tax cuts would "provide growth that we think will bring in more revenue in the long term."
House Speaker Paul Ryan and other congressional leaders have discussed a corporate tax rate in the low to mid-20s. Based on recent discussions, the GOP will probably aim for a rate in the range of 20 to 24 percent, said Ryan Ellis, a Republican tax lobbyist who previously worked as chief tax policy director for Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform.
Ellis said he also expects the so-called "Big Six" negotiators to seek a top individual rate of 35 percent. The Big Six are Mnuchin, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and the chairmen of the congressional tax-writing committees.
Ellis also said he expects the framework will call for doubling the standard deduction claimed by many middle-class tax filers, and for repealing the estate tax, which applies only to estates worth more than $5.49 million.
It's unclear how detailed the framework will be -- or whether it will represent the unified approach that the president and GOP leaders have sought.
Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a member of the Big Six, has said that he'll regard the document as a guide, but his panel won't be bound by it. Nor will his panel be a "rubber stamp" for any particular plan, Hatch said.
The Washington Post reported that Republicans were "targeting" a corporate rate of 20 percent, citing three unnamed people. But the plan remains fluid, those people told the paper. The news website Axios reported on Saturday that the Big Six had already agreed to a 20 percent rate.
House Republicans plan to hold a conference meeting Wednesday, and public information about the plan is expected shortly afterward.
Spokeswomen for Ryan and for House Ways and Means Committee chairman Kevin Brady declined to comment Saturday when asked about the reported details of the emerging plan.
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--With assistance from Steven T. Dennis Ben Brody and Terrence Dopp
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The Pledge of Allegiance has become a topic of date at Midland High School in West Texas after students were reportedly told they have to stand for it by law.
"It's the law! Stay standing during the pledge and silent during the moment of silence," a slide in a slideshow said, reports news station CBS 7.
RECITING THE PLEDGE: Texas mom shares proud moment when son stops everything to say the Pledge of Allegiance and prays
According to the news station, the slide came up during a presentation on the Pledge of Allegiance and was presented to juniors and seniors.
Lacy Sperry, executive director of communications for Midland ISD, told Chron.com that the slide "was taken out of context" and that school administrators have addressed the issue.
PROTEST: Pearland middle schooler protests pledge of allegiance, following NFL players
"According to the Texas Education Code, Sec. 25.082, we are required to have students recite the US pledge and the Texas pledge at least once a day, and we are required to have a moment of silence following the recitation of pledges," Sperry said via email. "As a protocol, we ask students to stand and remain standing. We honor any parental request for students to opt-out of the recitation of the pledge on any of our campuses."
The Texas Education code does state the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence is required from students daily. Students' parents or guardians can give written permission to not have their children stand during the pledge.
Parents Sounded off on CBS 7's Facebook post, giving multiple viewpoints on the subject.
"This is pure propaganda. There is no law stating that you must stand for the pledge of allegiance. This is actually against your freedom of speech. I can choose to stand or not stand," Jayson Brown commented on the post.
"You have the right to kneel but it's disrespectful to all the people who have died and suffered to give you that right," commented Steve Benner.
"The pledge is a lovely patriotic poem, but is not embedded in our legal nor political systems at all except as a cultural expression of our love of country," wrote Joanna Tousley-Escalante.
What do you think? Should students be required to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance? Let us know in the comments section.
The Alamo Area Council of Governments is accepting nominations for its 2017 Regional Awards.
Submit nominations online at aacog.com/award or call Tiffany Harris at 210-362-5204 to have a form sent to you. Deadline for nominations is Oct. 9.
Awards are presented in in five categories:
Regional Citizen of the Year honors a person who has contributed to the betterment of the 13-county AACOG region: Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Comal, Frio, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Karnes, Kendall, Kerr, McMullen, Medina and Wilson. Current elected officials arent eligible.
Corporate/Business Steward of the Year recognizes a for-profit business of any size that is an outstanding community partner through employee volunteering, fundraising efforts, etc.
Community/Nonprofit Project of the Year honors a project that has made a positive impact on the community.
Government Project of the Year is for a completed project that has had a significant community impact.
Lifetime Achievement Award goes to an individual who has contributed significantly to the region over his or her lifetime. This award has only been presented four times since the awards started in1974.
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WARNING: Video contains graphic language
AUSTIN Brawls broke out toward the end of a rally against Confederate monuments at the Capitol on Saturday, resulting in state troopers arresting and loading two demonstrators into police cruisers, as other protesters swarmed the sidewalk hurling insults and chanting.
We got into a big scuffle. The police grabbed a bunch of people, said Nicolas Ortiz, an advocate with the Brown Berets who was handcuffed and briefly detained by a state trooper.
Two protesters were arrested. One, charged with assaulting a peace officer, was taken to the hospital for injuries sustained during the arrest, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman said. His condition was unknown Saturday night.
Now Playing: Tensions erupting as Austin police ask protestors to stay on sidewalk, now protestors chanting "cops and klan go hand in hand." Video: Allie Morris, Express-News
The afternoon event was initially planned as a counter-protest to a Confederate heritage rally. The Dixie Freedom rally was canceled but the counter-protest continued as planned, starting at a city park and marching to the Capitol a few blocks away.
In the face of a heavy police presence, which included two state troopers on horseback, a dozen more on foot and roughly 10 Austin police officers on bikes, the counter-protest against white supremacy quickly took on an anti-law enforcement tone.
Antifacists or antifa were part of the more than 100 people protesting, and started chanting cops and Klan go hand in hand during the march to the Capitol as the Austin police officers made a barrier with their bicycles to keep protestors out of the street. The aggressive tone turned off some protesters, who opted to leave the event early.
It was supposed to be equal rights against white supremacy, and it turned into anti-fascism, said David, an Austin resident who declined to give his last name. That is their style, with megaphones and chanting, it gives the entire event a flavor I dont appreciate.
The clashes didnt start until the rallys end on the Capitol grounds, when a bystander grabbed a bullhorn from one of the protesters and used it to thank the police.
As attendees sought to take back the bullhorn, a scuffle ensued that ended with Ortiz being handcuffed. Ortiz and the bystander, who was not handcuffed, much to protestors anger, were taken into the Capitol. Soon after, another clash broke on out the lawn, ending with several demonstrators being held down by state troopers on the pavement.
At one point, the crack of a stun gun rang out. The Department of Public Safety confirmed a trooper unholstered a Taser and pulled the trigger, but said it wasnt used on a person.
Now Playing: Dozens of Austin police tried to manage a rally Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017, as protesters shout "f*** the police" and "thanks for wasting our tax dollars." Video: Allie Morris, Express-News
One of the men arrested, Andrew J. Alemao, of Iowa City, Iowa, is accused of assaulting a trooper and attempting to flee, according to the department. His girlfriend, Michelle Molnar, said Alemaos face was bloodied after he was held on the ground by two troopers.
They took him in the cop car. I did not see them giving him any medical attention, she said.
Austin resident Angelica R. Clark, 24, was charged with interfering with Alemaos arrest.
Within about 30 minutes of the ruckus, the crowd began to disband. Some protestors blamed police for the contentious clashes.
I thought the cops were unnecessary and repeatedly escalated situations for no good reason, said attendee Antonio Buehler.
Austin Police Commander Michael Eveleth said his officers were protecting protestors.
Our presence out there is for their safety, he said. Were not going out there against them. Were out there to help them express their First Amendment right and to provide them a safe atmosphere.
Fourteen groups coordinated the event, according to the Facebook page, but far fewer than the 1,600 people who registered actually showed up, likely because the Dixie rally had been canceled.
After marching from the nearby park, the group rallied at each of the three confederate monuments on the Capitol grounds with chants of tear it down.
We wanted to make it clear white supremacists are not welcome in Austin, said Lisa Fithian, a woman who led the calls for pulling down the monuments.
Efforts to remove Confederate symbols at the Capitol have accelerated in recent months.
This week, House Speaker Joe Straus called for the removal of a blatantly inaccurate Confederate plaque at the state Capitol that denies slavery led to Texas secession.
The whole concept of white supremacy is offense to any true American and why its such an issue here is unfathomable to me because we are a nation of immigrants, said Connie Kosmas, an Austin woman who showed up for the protest.
amorris@express-news.net
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Robert E. Lee, known as the commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, was an icon for the South during and after the Civil War.
But letters obtained in December by the Briscoe Center for American History in Austin show how the general interacted with his slaves prior to the Civil War.
RELATED: Confederate monuments and slavery artifacts in Texas
Don Carleton, the Briscoe Center's executive director, said in a news release the three letters are important to scholars of both slavery and Lee since they tie the two together.
These documents add to the historical evidence that Lee was active in the affairs of the slaves and farms that he had inherited from his father-in-law, George Washington Parke Custis, Carleton said in a news release.
The letters were written from San Antonio, where Lee was stationed as a U.S. Army officer in 1859 and 1860.
RELATED: Where former slaves in San Antonio lived
In one of the letters, Lee said the following regarding a set of male slaves who were believed to be troublemakers:
He will have orders to deliver them to you at Richmond or in the event of not meeting you, to lodge them in the jail in that city.
In the same letter, Lee discusses sending away three women of varying ages. He said they have become accustomed to house work, but he cannot recommend them for honesty.
Lees father-in-law died in 1857, leaving nearly 200 slaves and several farm operations for Lee. He delayed emancipation of the slaves, despite the father-in-laws wishes to have the slaves freed within 5 years of his death. He used the slaves to raise funds to fulfill debts and raise money for his children, according to the Briscoe Center for American History.
Lee used the letters for correspondence with an agent, William Winston, so that he could order slaves be moved from his land to another property in Richmond, Virginia.
RELATED: In Texas, history of slavery unique but not 'brief
Preliminary research suggests that Lee sent these slaves to Richmond because he considered them either rebellious or dishonest, Carleton said in a news release. It may be that Lee was sending a message to his other slaves, many of whom believed Lee was delaying their legal freedom for economic gain: Endure another five years of slavery or suffer the consequences in the harsher climate of Richmond, one of the Souths most notorious centers of slavery.
The letters also discuss how the slaves were transported to new locations.
Click through the slideshow to see a collection of scans of the letters, as well as photos surrounding some San Antonios very own notable slaves.
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Twitter: @tylerlwhite
SHELBYVILLE Jill Collum did not know what to expect when she agreed to go winery-hopping in Central Illinois with her friends.
The Manteno resident has gone to wineries around the city and in Michigan, but had not heard about Central Illinois wines until she did a Google search after work brought her to the area.
But after a few glasses of wine at Shelbyville's Willow Ridge Vineyards & Winery, Collum said it was worth the trek through farmlands and rocky, two-lane roads.
"I would not have expected all this good wine, especially here in what seems to be the middle of nowhere," she said.
In an area more known for the growth of corn and soybeans, grapes and vineyards have started to dot more of the land as local winemakers see an increased appetite for the product in what has become a $692 million industry in Illinois, according to the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association.
In a way, it is a return to the past, when the state was the fourth largest wine producer in the country during the turn of the 20th century. There were just over a dozen Illinois wineries in the 1980s, but now there are more than 100 in a network of eight wine trails.
There are 41 wineries across what the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association refers to as the central and south central regions of Illinois, which covers everything south of the Chicago area and north of those close to the Effingham area.
The growth in the industry has not been lost on Louie Donnel, co-owner of Shelbyvilles Willow Ridge Vineyards & Winery. That growth has gone hand-in-hand with what Donnel said has been increased business as customers look for something different than the more stereotypical drinking experience.
I think its the more laid-back style that draws people to wineries, Donnel said. Its definitely not your typical tavern scene.
Since opening, Willow Ridge has gone on to win several state awards for its wine, most recently winning the governors cup at the 2016 Illinois State Fair with its Pink Catawba winning for best dessert wine.
When their winery was first opened in 2007, Donnel said they were about the 70th to open in the state. Since then, more than 30 new wineries have opened shop.
Among the newest wineries in the area is Panas Arpeggio Winery, which opened its rustic doors in 2015.
When they first opened, co-owner Mike Swiney said he and his wife, Karen, did not know exactly what sort of support they would receive from the community. Since then, the renovated barn that once belonged to Mike's grandmother has added a new outdoor patio, performance stage and an expanded outdoor area.
On top of increasing sales, Karen Swiney said they know the community can be counted on to help the family-run winery whenever asked.
"We have people come out here to help pick grapes (from the two acre vineyard)," she said. "A lot of people tell us they're happy to support us and it's really nice to be able to involve them."
One thing that is missing in Central Illinois is one of the designated wine trails that encourages customers to spend the day wine-hopping from place to place. Local owners say there is an interest in getting one together, as Karen Swiney said there is a certain camaraderie in the business that encourages partnerships between wineries rather than competition.
But for now, Swiney said they will continue to focus on what they can control, which is growing their business.
Were seeing an increased demand every year, she said. I think the community has shown how much they enjoy wine.
San Antonio is in for showers and cooler temperatures later this week, while areas west of our area will experience heavy rainfall Monday afternoon with the possibility of flooding into Thursday.
Meteorologist Aaron Treadway with the National Weather Service said San Antonio will see scattered showers throughout the week likely totaling 1 to 4 inches of rain.
1 Peacekeepers killed: The U.N. mission in Mali said three peacekeepers were killed and five others wounded Sunday in an attack on a convoy near the Gao region. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but it resembles other attacks linked to al Qaeda in the region. The peacekeeping mission in Mali is the deadliest of the U.N.s 16 global peacekeeping operations. Two peacekeepers were killed this month in Kidal.
2 Libya strikes: The U.S. military said Sunday that it had conducted drone strikes on an Islamic State training camp in Libya, killing 17 militants in the first U.S. air strikes in the strife-torn nation since January. A half-dozen strikes Friday hit a training camp about 150 miles southeast of Sirte, from which militants were moving fighters in and out of the country, stockpiling weapons and equipment, and plotting and conducting attacks, the Pentagons Africa Command said in a statement. Three vehicles also were destroyed. The most recent strikes underscore the major threat that the Islamic State still poses in the region. The militant group is believed to have several hundred fighters in Libya who have taken sanctuary in its vast ungoverned spaces.
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Milo Yiannopoulos didnt mince any words Saturday, saying he will speak at UC Berkeley "come hell or high water."
The self-proclaimed troll is in the Bay Area to headline Free Speech Week, organized by student group Berkeley Patriot and slated to run Sept. 24 and Sept. 27. That plan went up in smoke Saturday when the student group withdrew its sponsorship of the four-day conservative political event.
Yiannopoulos hosted a strongly-worded Facebook Live, flanked by political commentator Pamela Geller and Infowars host Mike Cernovich, saying he was "disappointed to have been completely blindsided" by Berkeley Patriots letter to the universitys Interim Vice Chancellor Stephen Sutton, detailing why the "mutated" Free Speech Week was being called off.
"I do understand their fears and they are right on all counts when they say UC Berkeley is threatening their educational futures," he said. "But we cannot host an official university event without a student sponsor."
Yiannopoulous blasted UC Berkeley for having "hypocritically named this academic year its Year of Free Speech."
"The administration has done everything in its power to crush its own students aspirations," he said. "UC Berkeley may have a deservedly poor reputation for free speech, and its students will graduate knowing less than when they came in as freshmen, but you have to give the school credit: they are masters of bureaucratic dirty dealing."
Yiannopoulos lashed out at university officials, who he said "leaked" Free Speech Week's speaker list to "domestic terrorists" like Antifa.
He also decried the narratives that the "Berkeley Patriots were hopelessly disorganized" and that he "somehow knowingly allowed fans to spend money travelling to Berkeley" despite suspicions that the event would be axed.
That said, Yiannopoulos said he was undeterred in his plan to express his First Amendment rights at the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement. The former Breitbart News editors attempt to speak at UC Berkeley in February came to a screeching halt when masked rioters began vandalizing property and lighting fires.
In their capacity as citizens with the constitutional right to express their views, Yiannopoulos and other speakers will rally at Sproul Plaza at 12 p.m. Sunday at what has been dubbed a March for Free Speech. Over 140 people had expressed interest as of Saturday evening.
"We will proceed no matter what, in whatever format we can, to realize the promise of Free Speech Week and send a message that conservatives will not be bowed by pressure from academics, the media or anyone else," Yiannopoulos said.
Yiannopoulos said that the Berkeley Police Department knows of his plan and will be "out in full force," patrolling Sproul Plaza. [[447236003, C]]
Despite being miffed at Berkeley Patriot for pulling the plug on Free Speech Week, Yiannopoulos said he plans to endow the group with $10,000 dubbed the Mario Savio Free Speech Fund. Berkeley "needs a strong, populous, free-speech loving conservative publication," he said.
Yiannopoulos contined: "Free Speech is at risk on college campuses like never before in Americas history."
Yiannopoulos also asked people who bought plane tickets, reserved hotel rooms or spent money in any other form to attend Free Speech Week to send him their receipts and confirmation. "We will take care of you," he said, alluding to a surprise at Sunday's rally.
"I deeply appreciate the efforts freedom-loving Americans have gone to in order to support this event and I am personally grateful to the fans who came in from all four corners of the earth," he wrote on Facebook. "I want you to know that I share your frustration with the administration and with the media, and that I will take care of you. Berkeley did this to you, but Im going to fix it."
Ann Coulter was meant to be the recipient of the Mario Savio Award for Free Speech, Yiannopolous said, admitting that he considered smashing it on the steps to Sproul Plaza "to declare that free speech at Berkeley is dead." Instead, he will safeguard it.
"We will be back. I will get Ann Coulter here I will get Uncle Steve back. I will get all of the people that you were looking forward to seeing here," Yiannopoulos promised.
He then invited UC Berkeleys Chancellor Carol Christ and University of California President Janet Napolitano to debate with him or any conservative of their choice on the issue of free speech.
"It's high time that America had its big showdown free speech debate," Yiannopoulos said.
Anyone hoping the demise of Free Speech Week means they wont have to hear about him anymore will be disappointed, Yiannopoulos added, since he is launching an international Troll Academy tour.
In California, he will speak at Cal State Bakersfield on Oct. 25, at San Diego State University on Oct. 29 and at Cal State Fullerton on Oct. 31.
Some universities welcome speakers with controversial points of view, while some dont, Yiannopoulos said, but "the vast majority do not possess the resources, clout, and pure malevolent evil of UC Berkeley."
Yiannopoulos also revealed that he is launching a publishing house called "Dangerous Books," which will publish Gellers next book, "Fatwa: Hunted in America."
Returning to the issue at hand, Yiannopoulos said: "We will go through this madness, and we will do it again and again and again, until conservative speakers are given the same rights and privileges as their left-wing counterparts at every college in the country," he said on Facebook. "I will not rest until every student in America feels able to share their politics openly and proudly without fear of being marked down on essays, laughed at in the classroom or punished for inviting their speaker of choice."
UC Berkeley issued a statement Saturday evening indicating that it was aware of Yiannopoulos' plans to speak and that the school was "putting measures in place to ensure the safety of the campus community." The university also advised people in attendance on Sunday to avoid violence.
"Our campus will not tolerate acts of violence or the destruction of property, and the UCPD will dutifully investigate, arrest, and prosecute anyone who commits crimes on our campus," a statement from the university read.
Hundreds of people descended on Berkeley Saturday for a "No Hate in the Bay" rally in response to the now cancelled Free Speech Week at UC Berkeley.
Student group Berkeley Patriot called off the controversial Free Speech Week that many protesters said promotes hate speech and, by extension, violence, but right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos has vowed to show up anyway.
Chants scattered across city streets on Saturday offered support for groups such as Black Lives Matter and those with LGBTQ affiliations. Signs hoisted into the air denounced those behind the so-called "alt-right" movement, calling them fascists and Nazis. Some of those signs read "Make Racists Afraid Again" and "Smash White Supremacy."
"We are resisting the Free Speech Week at Berkeley that is claiming to be free speech, but we know that it's hate speech and that the people coming onto campus are violent," Linda Ereikat from the Arab Resource and Organizing Center said.
Although Free Speech Week has been called off, Yiannopoulos and other speakers plan to gather at Sproul Plaza at 12 p.m. on Sunday, reportedly with the full backing of the Berkeley Police Department.
Ereikat hopes that those who are able will gather in Berkeley on Sunday to speak out against Yiannopoulos.
"We see that our communities right now are vulnerable and they are very scared and they're emotional," Ereikat said. "We need to fight back for them. The people that are really able need to fight back. We need to stand up."
A common view for those in attendance at the Berkeley march was that those associated with the so-called "alt-right" movement encourage acts of hateful violence.
Isaac Levszmonko with the Catalyst Project, which works on issues related to race relations, hopes the community will stand united against that behavior.
"When Milo Yiannopoulos last came to campus, his goal there was to reveal the identities of undocumented students at Berkeley so that they would either be deported or be targeted for racist violence," Levszmonko said. "We think that's beyond the realm of free speech."
Free Speech Week at UC Berkeley was officially canceled, but that didn't stop right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos from making a quick, unsanctioned visit to the East Bay campus Sunday.
Flashing an American flag hoodie under a denim jacket, Yiannopoulos blew kisses to the crowd, posed for some selfies and addressed a couple dozen supporters without amplification while hundreds of protesters were kept away by police. Less than a half hour after appearing, Yiannopoulos was whisked away by an SUV.
Demonstrators from opposing sides of the political spectrum came face-to-face in Berkeley as right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos visited the East Bay campus.
It is not exactly clear what Yiannopoulos told a small crowd on the steps of Sproul Hall, but the conservative commentator could at one time be heard singing a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner." He could also be seen hoisting signs into the air reading "Feminism is Cancer" and "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder," in part.
On his way out surrounded by members of his team, reporters and some hecklers, Yiannopoulos vowed to return to the birthplace of free speech.
"It was very important for us to show up today and let Berkeley know that we won't be deterred and let them know we'll be back as many times as it takes," he said.
[NATL-BAY]Demonstrators Face-Off at Milo Yiannopoulos Event in Berkeley
Berkeley police reported 11 arrests for violating a number of Berkeley municipal codes and California Penal Codes. Police announced that the arrested were: Keith Sherman, 30, Oakland; Kyle McCoy, 28, Oakland; Drean Coxburnett, 23, Berkeley; Jonathan Cho, 27, Oakland; Imalda Starling, 32, Berkeley; David Johnson, 24, Oakland; Rane Stark-Buhl, 27, Oakland; William Orr, 29 Oakland; Kelsey James, 24, Reno, NV; Gautam Reddy, 22, San Ramon; and Syth Feil, 30, Redwood Valley.
Before Yiannopoulos' appearance, chanting and shouting demonstrators had already gathered in Berkeley, coming face-to-face with one another as police tried to separate them.
An estimated $800,000 or more was spent on police personnel and extra support, according to University of California Police Department Chief Margo Bennett. Officers representing roughly eight to 10 agencies, among others, were on hand to keep the peace.
Six-figure spending on police was a "significant" cost, according to university spokesman Dan Mogulof, but it will not impact the university's budget or trigger any budget cuts.
Mogulof also joked that the money spent on mobilizing police for the short appearance amounted to "probably the most expensive photo op in the university's history."
"We would much rather have spent those resources in a different way on the academic mission, on improving the student experience, infrastructure I mean, we have serious budgetary needs," Mogulof said. "But our compliance with the First Amendment is not discretionary. Where we do have discretion is in all that we do to provide for the safety and well-being of the campus community."
Free Speech Week has been canceled, but event headliner Milo Yiannopoulos said he still plans to speak on the UC Berkeley campus on Sunday. Anser Hassan reports.
While the four-day long Free Speech Week has gone up in smoke, Bennett and Mogulof noted that university officials and police will be ready to handle any incidents that crop up over the coming days.
"We have to just be prepared for the unexpected I think this week," Mogulof said.
Demonstrators still remained in the vicinity of Sproul Plaza after Yiannopoulos left, at times clogging city streets and impacting traffic.
The student group Berkeley Patriot on Saturday informed UC Berkeley that Free Speech Week has been canceled, but event headliner Milo Yiannopoulos doubled down on his plans to come to the campus. Christie Smith reports.
Yiannopoulos' visit came one day after he took to Facebook Live to say that he would join Pamela Geller, Mike Cernovich and other speakers at Sproul Plaza at noon for a March for Free Speech with the full backing of the Berkeley Police Department even though the student group Berkeley Patriot informed the university that Free Speech Week had been canceled.
"We are going to be hosting an event come hell or high water tomorrow," Yiannopoulos said, vowing to proceed with or without UC Berkeley's or the students' cooperation.
NBC Bay Area's Christie Smith and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Restaurant giant McDonalds is moving out of its Oak Brook headquarters and into Chicago, but could the campus lure another massive company to the suburb?
That headquarters is one of the rumored possible landing spots for the much-sought after second headquarters for Amazon, which is holding a nationwide competition as it looks for a location to house a massive facility that could create 50,000 jobs and billions in economic benefits to the area lucky enough to land it.
We have low taxes, low government, low crime, and outstanding public schools, DuPage County Chairman Dan Cronin said.
Cronin says that it is working with the city of Chicago, who is rumored to be one of the biggest contenders for the new facility. He says that if any city in the region gets the headquarters, it will be a boon to the entire regions economy.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has launched an all-out effort to land the project, and has floated several potential locations, including the Thompson Center, the old post office, and the former location of the Finkl steel plant.
Not everyone is enthused about the project, as Illinois gubernatorial candidate Daniel Biss cautioned about giving up too much to land Amazons new campus.
When states compete with each other, trying to hand out as big of incentives as possible, they get trapped in a race to the bottom, he said.
Cities in other states are also in on the bidding, including Austin, Atlanta, and St. Louis, but even if Oak Brook doesnt land the project, Chairman Cronin says the McDonalds headquarters will not sit empty.
Answering the call to serve and protect often takes a toll on first responders. The Believe 208 5K remembers first responders lost to suicide, raising awareness about the issue.
Sunday in East Hartford, the emotional event was held to recognize that struggle and sacrifice.
Believe 208 was founded by Trish Buchanan in honor of her husband Paul, who took his own life in 2013. Paul Buchanan was an East Hartford police officer with 24 years of service. Believe 208 is named to reflect Pauls badge number.
Believe 208 works with CABLE, the Connecticut Alliance to Benefit Law Enforcement, to provide resources and raise awareness about suicide. This is the fourth year of the race. For more information, click here.
A man accused of trying to kill someone with a 2X4 in Vermont, robbing a Massachusetts bank and fleeing in a stolen truck earlier this month has been arrested as a fugitive at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.
Members of the U.S. Marshals Service found 48-year-old Alfred Craven of Readsboro, Vermont, at the casino Friday. He was wanted on attempted murder charges out of Searsburg, where a 53-year-old man claims Craven attacked him with a 2X4 on Sept. 4, fracturing his skull, his jaw and other bones in his face.
The victim told Vermont State Police Craven had fled, and a warrant was issued for his arrest on aggravated assault and first degree attempted murder charges.
While he was on the run, police say Craven robbed the North Easton Savings Bank in Mansfield, Massachusetts on Sept. 18. Craven, who Mansfield Police say is a native of nearby Taunton, allegedly stole a Chevy Silverado from a car wash on Route 44 in that city. Police say he used the truck as a getaway vehicle after passing a note to a bank teller demanding cash.
Mansfield Police
Police in Mansfield are charging Craven with unarmed robbery, larceny over $250, receiving a stolen vehicle and disturbing a school assembly. They plan to bring him to Attleboro District Court after he faces a federal probation charge. Mansfield Police add that he will also face charges out of Taunton District Court, and that he remains in the custody of U.S. Marshals.
Vermont State Police told necn Friday they had no new information about the case against Craven.
According to U.S. Marshals, "Craven has an extensive criminal history that spans Vermont, Massachusetts and California," with federal convictions for conspiracy to sell marijuana and bank robbery.
It was not immediately clear if Craven had an attorney.
Airline companies are beginning to resume operations to and from the Caribbean since the impact of Hurricane Maria.
Southwest Airlines has adjusted its operating schedule to/from Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU) in Puerto Rico due the lack of electricity and infrastructure across the island. As of now, it is possible for only one of the five scheduled flights to/from SJU to operate on Saturday, September 23 and Sunday, September 24.
In addition, Southwest will be sending another aircraft from Orlando (MCO) to SJU Saturday with the purpose of determining how safe it is to transport people in and out of SJU. This aircraft will also include a Southwest assessment team and relief supplies onboard to help the situation furthermore.
For those holding reservations and wanting to make any changes to their travel plans to San Juan or Punta Cana, Southwest is offering flexible accommodations from September 18 to September 30. These include rebooking flights in the original class of service or traveling standby within the 14 days of the original date of travel, between the original city-pairs and in accordance to the accommodation procedures.
More flights will come available as conditions in San Juan improve.
Operations at Punta Cana International Airport resumed Friday.
American Airlines is also beginning to operate to Puerto Rico. On Friday, September 22 it operated a total of three flights to SJU. It also operated two flights from SJU, one to Miami and one to Philadelphia.
Flights to/from Providenciales resumed Saturday, September 23. Operations to Saint Maarten and the U.S. Virgin Islands will resume once airports reopen.
The destructive floodwaters of Superstorm Sandy receded quickly, but some storm victims are still neck-deep in a battle over insurance payouts. And many victims of this year's storms in Texas, Florida and elsewhere should brace themselves for a similar fight, lawyers involved in Sandy insurance battles say.
As Sandy's fifth anniversary approaches Oct. 29, more than 1,000 families in New York and New Jersey are still fighting with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over their flood insurance claims, according to government statistics.
The FEMA-run National Flood Insurance Program paid out $8.2 billion to about 144,000 policyholders after Sandy, a critical safety net that saved many homeowners from financial ruin.
But many storm victims also complained that they were shortchanged by the private insurance companies hired to administer the program and left with too little money to repair the damage.
Under pressure from Congress, FEMA reopened the Sandy claims process in 2015 and since then has paid out an additional $396 million, but some property owners continue to argue in that they are owed more.
In the barrier island city of Long Beach, New York, Jamilyn Spellman is among those still fighting, even though her Sandy-damaged home has long since been demolished, the land beneath it sold, and its original owner -- her mother -- has died of cancer.
"She just wanted to die at home," said Spellman. But "she died displaced ... literally, in the hospice, talking about FEMA."
After nearly every major storm, lawyers for Sandy victims said, disputes arise over fair payouts that can be maddeningly difficult to resolve.
"It has been a struggle every step of the way," said August Matteis, a Washington, D.C., lawyer whose firm is representing about 1,200 policyholders going through the FEMA review. "FEMA is still fighting us tooth and nail for every penny."
Amy Bach, executive director of the advocacy group United Policyholders, said the lessons of Sandy and other past storms show that victims of this year's hurricanes need to take an aggressive approach to their claims, too.
Among other things, she said, victims should thoroughly photograph their home's condition, inside and out, before making even temporary repairs or cleaning out debris.
"You need to be proactive in documenting and valuing your losses if you want to get a fair, full and timely settlement," she said.
The National Flood Insurance Program was created to protect homeowners unable to buy insurance in the private sector because they live in high-risk flood zones.
While many homeowners with Sandy policies settled claims quickly, more than 2,000 sued over what they said was sloppy work by some of the insurance adjusters and structural engineers who were rushed into the disaster zone to evaluate the damage.
After some homeowners and their lawyers uncovered evidence that at least two engineering companies hired by insurers had a practice of rewriting reports turned in by field inspectors, FEMA took the unprecedented step of allowing all Sandy victims to have their claim re-examined. About 19,500 policyholders asked for a review.
According to the last FEMA update, released Sept. 8, most of those reviews had been completed. But about 1,100 policyholders were still in an appeals process, with a neutral reviewer going over their claim.
FEMA officials have said their priority is getting claims paid fairly as quickly as possible. It has set a target of Oct. 25 for completing arguments in the Sandy claim review process.
The agency has also undertaken a series of reforms since Sandy. Among other things, it has already decided to give victims of Hurricane Harvey a year to document their losses. Sandy victims were initially told they had just 60 days, though deadlines for many were later extended.
The Spellmans' insurance fight is similar to a lot of the other insurance disputes that have dragged out.
Sandy's storm surge inundated the property with 3 1/2 feet of water, opened a small sinkhole under part of the house and put a hole in the foundation.
An engineer hired by the insurance company said the building could be saved and FEMA awarded the family about $104,000 for repairs. Contractors hired by the family said the damage was bad enough that it would cost at least $300,000 -- more than the family's $250,000 policy.
The house was eventually razed in hopes the family could put up a modest modular home. And finally, the lot was sold last December because the family could no longer afford the mortgage and taxes.
Jamilyn Spellman says she is holding out hope that when the fight with FEMA ends, she'll end up with what her mother was "rightfully entitled to and fought for."
"It would help so much ... but the damage is already done," she says. "My mother's gone. The house is gone. For me, I feel like I've already lost what's important."
The Riverside City Fire Department Saturday is deploying a 27-person team of specialized emergency personnel to assist the search and rescue efforts in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.
The Urban Search and Rescue Team Task Force Six will depart at 8 p.m. from March Air Reserve Base on a C5 cargo plane along with several other teams, according to a news release.
Crew members include a logistics specialist, rescue specialist, K9s, medical personnel, a hazmat specialist and communications support, said Training Captain Dave McClellan. The team is led by Division Chief Steve McKinster.
"The team members are the best of the best and have trained many years for such a deployment," McClellan said.
Earlier today, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello called Hurricane Maria, which made landfall Wednesday morning, the worst catastrophe in island history. It left large swaths of the territory underwater and without power or cellular service.
At least seven people have died, according to news reports.
President Donald Trump tweeted that North Korea "won't be around much longer" if the speech made by a North Korean official at the United Nations mirror the sentiments of "Little Rocket Man" Kim Jong Un.
"Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!" Trump tweeted late Saturday.
Trump's threat comes after the American military showed military might to North Korea, as U.S. bombers and flight escorts flew to the farther point north of the border between North and South Korea by any such American aircraft this century. The Pentagon said the mission in international airspace showed how seriously President Donald Trump takes North Korea's "reckless behavior."
"This mission is a demonstration of U.S. resolve and a clear message that the president has many military options to defeat any threat," Defense Department spokesman Dana White said in a statement.
"North Korea's weapons program is a grave threat to the Asia-Pacific region and the entire international community. We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the U.S. homeland and our allies," White said.
North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, has said Trump would "pay dearly" for threatening to "totally destroy" North Korea if the U.S. was forced to defend itself or its allies against a North Korean attack. Kim's foreign minister told reporters this past week that the North's response to Trump "could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific."
North Korea has said it intends to build a missile capable of striking all parts of the United States with a nuclear bomb. Trump has said he won't allow it, although the U.S. so far has not used military force to impede the North's progress.
The Pentagon said B-1B bombers from Guam, along with F-15C Eagle fighter escorts from Okinawa, Japan, flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea on Saturday. The U.S. characterized the flights as extending farther north of the Demilitarized Zone, than any U.S. fighter or bomber had gone off the North Korean coast in the 21st century.
B-1 bombers are no longer part of the U.S. nuclear force, but they are capable of dropping large numbers of conventional bombs.
U.S. Pacific Command would not be more specific about many years it had been since U.S. bombers and fighters had flown that far north of the DMZ, but a spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Dave Benham, noted that this century "encompasses the period North Korea has been testing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons."
At the United Nations, North Korea's foreign minister, Ri Yong Ho, said Saturday that his country's nuclear force is "to all intents and purposes, a war deterrent for putting an end to nuclear threat of the U.S. and for preventing its military invasion, and our ultimate goal is to establish the balance of power with the U.S."
He also said that Trump's depiction of Kim as "Rocket Man" makes "our rocket's visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable all the more."
Trump on Friday had renewed his rhetorical offensive against Kim.
"Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!" the president tweeted.
On Thursday, Trump announced more economic sanctions against the impoverished and isolated country, targeting foreign companies that deal with the North.
"North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile development is a grave threat to peace and security in our world and it is unacceptable that others financially support this criminal, rogue regime," Trump said as he joined Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a meeting in New York.
Hours later, Kim responded by saying Trump was "deranged."
In a speech last week at the United Nations, Trump had issued the warning of potential obliteration and mocked the North's young autocrat as a "Rocket Man" on a "suicide mission."
Trump's executive order expanded the Treasury Department's ability to target anyone conducting significant trade in goods, services or technology with North Korea, and to ban them from interacting with the U.S. financial system.
Trump also said China was imposing major banking sanctions, too, but there was no immediate confirmation from the North's most important trading partner.
If enforced, the Chinese action Trump described could severely impede the isolated North's ability to raise money for its missile and nuclear development. China, responsible for about 90 percent of North Korea's trade, serves as the country's conduit to the international banking system.
A naked man who was covered in blood and went on violent rampage in a Long Island basement has died in police custody, officials said.
Walter Perez, 36, died after police subdued him and put him in handcuffs, said Nassau County police Lt. Det. Richard LeBrun.
When officers noticed he wasn't breathing, they immediately removed the handcuffs and attempting life-saving measures, but weren't able to revive him, LeBrun said.
Perez lived at the house on Doughty Boulevard where police were called about a disturbance, authorities said. The house has several rooms in the basement that were rented out, LeBrun said.
Officers arrived to find Perez covered in blood, believed to be his own from injuries he sustained from ripping down doors and breaking things in the home, police said. He also held up a "dangerous instrument," LeBrun said.
Officers deployed their tasers twice, but the stun guns had no effect on Perez, LeBrun said.
After a struggle, officers subdued Perez and handcuffed him, LeBrun said. Then they noticed he wasn't breathing, he said.
Five officers were treated at a hospital for exposure to bodily fluids including blood, feces and saliva, LeBrun said.
The Nassau County Homicide Squad and the district attorney's office were investigating.
A team of first responders departed Saturday for Puerto Rico to help in the recovery effort after Hurricane Maria.
The humanitarian crisis was growing in Puerto Rico as towns were left without fresh water, fuel, power or phone service following Maria's devastating passage across the island.
Tony Maldonado of the NYC Emergency Management Team said the group from New York would augment the island's emergency management center.
Also on the plane, which was rented by the Hispanic Federation, were first responders and City Council President Melissa Mark Viverito.
Mark Viverito has family in Puerto Rico. She said that based on descriptions of the damage that she's received from them, "the level of devastation is a total catastrophe."
Here in New York, firehouses were collecting donations to deliver to Puerto Rico. A telethon is also planned for Sept. 25.
Radnor Township Board of Commissioners president Philip Ahr is under investigation by the Delaware County District Attorney's Office, sources told NBC10 Friday.
Why Ahr is under investigation remains unclear, however.
Detectives arrived at Ahr's twin home early Thursday with a search warrant to collect evidence, sources said.
NBC10 made multiple attempts to reach Ahr at his home, by phone and social media, but were unsuccessful.
A spokesperson for the district attorney's office wouldn't elaborate on the investigation, only saying it's "ongoing."
Commissioner Luke Clark confirmed Friday that the board was notified of the raid and investigation Friday. Clark said he was asked not to discuss the merits of the case and referred further questions to the DA's office.
Radnor Township called a staff meeting Friday to discuss the investigation. Staff approached after the meeting only said they were informed of the probe.
Ahr's biography was unavailable on the Radnor Township website Friday. As of Saturday, the page was accessible again, but said "No bio submitted."
A woman was bitten by a venomous snake as she walked into a restaurant in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
Rachel Myrick said she was at a LongHorn Steakhouse earlier this month when she felt a sharp pain in her left foot.
She reached down and realized she'd been bitten several times by a roughly 8-inch-long copperhead that apparently had gotten inside the restaurant's foyer.
"I got bit! I got bit!" Myrick said she yelled.
The pain was excruciating, Myrick said. She was taken to a hospital for treatment, where she was given antivenin.
She spent the next five days in the hospital and was told it could be weeks or even months before she can get back to work as a real estate agent.
Almost two weeks after she was bitten, she was walking and using crutches and still can't place weight on her foot.
Despite the ordeal, she said she's thankful it was not her teenage son or another child who was bitten.
"The fact that it wasn't a child, a million times over is a blessing," she said.
A spokesman for LongHorn said the restaurant chain wants to provide any assistance it can to Myrick and is taking steps to prevent anything similar from happening again.
Our primary concern is for the well-being of Ms. Myrick, and we want to provide any assistance we can," he said. "This was a highly unusual incident, and we are working with our facilities team to see how this may have occurred, and we are taking steps to prevent it from happening again.
Myrick said she was shaken by the experience.
"It was five seconds that turns your life upside down," she said.
Snake experts said the chance of a snakebite is remote.
If bitten, call 911. Do not apply a tourniquet or ice. Don't cut into the wound or use suction, and avoid alcohol or drugs -- even ibuprofen.
Every night since Hurricane Maria hit, Miguel Martinez and his family have slept on mattresses on the porch to escape the heat inside their dark, stifling home. But it's nearly impossible to sleep with temperatures in the mid-80s.
At least once a night they climb to the roof to catch a hint of breeze. Then the 51-year-old construction worker, his three children and one grandchild climb back down again.
"It's a heat from hell," Martinez said. "We don't have a generator or a fan. We have nothing. The children get desperate. You want just a little bit of cold water, but there's none."
The power is still out across nearly all of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria smashed poles, snarled power lines and flooded electricity-generating plants last Wednesday, knocking out a grid that was already considered antiquated compared to the U.S. mainland. Generators are providing power to the fortunate few who have them, but nearly all the island's 1.6 million electricity customers were still without power Monday and facing many, many hot days and dark nights to come.
Power had been restored to a handful of hospitals and surrounding areas by Monday afternoon but Public Affairs Secretary Ramon Rosario said it will take months to fully restore power to the island.
Authorities are still figuring out the extent of the damage, let alone beginning to repair it.
Utility workers from New York have arrived to help assess the damage, while airplanes and barges are bringing in more generators.
Getting the power back isn't just a matter of comfort. A long delay will mean even more pain for a Puerto Rican economy that's already reeling from a decade-long recession. With no power, even more people will leave the island to find better opportunities on the mainland and further drain its workforce. The downed power system is also damaging the tourism industry, which contributed 8 percent to Puerto Rico's economy last year.
The overwhelming smell of rotting garbage wafted through a working-class part of the Santurce section of San Juan, where 46-year-old construction worker Rafael Santana spent the night in front of a single fan thanks to a neighbor with a generator who was kind enough to throw over a cable so he could have power from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m.
By 8 a.m., Santana's forehead was beaded with sweat as he left home to seek out some shade nearby.
Roberto Ruiz, a 50-year-old handyman, handed a chilled bottle of water that his daughter brought home from her job, which has power, to a neighbor seeking something to drink.
"Look at this! Cold water!" exclaimed 70-year-old Jose Luis Burgos as he took the bottle and looked at it, mesmerized. "We are suffering here."
Ruiz said he jumps into the shower several times a day to cool off, letting water drip over his body instead of drying off afterward. He also leaves his windows open, which led to another problem: "Now the mosquitoes don't leave me alone."
Most people have thrown open their doors and windows, anxious to feel a breeze amid the oppressive heat.
Six-month-old Rafshliany Cortijo wore only diapers as she sat in a swing placed in an open doorway. She smiled as she slowly swung back and forth.
"I bathe her six times a day," said Franchesca Rivera, the baby's 31-year-old mother. "She sweats a lot."
Mother and daughter sleep on the porch at night along with Rivera's son to stave off the heat since they don't have a generator or a battery-powered fan.
Nelida Morales, a 49-year-old nanny, said her house becomes an oven during the day because three big trees that once shaded it were uprooted by the storm.
"We can't go to the rivers because of floodwaters. And the beach is out of reach," Morales said as sweat beaded on her upper lip.
Puerto Rico's power plants were not severely damaged, according to Gov. Ricardo Rossello. However, 80 percent of the island's transmission lines are down, and Rossello said it would take up to two years to completely rebuild the infrastructure under normal conditions. He said the plan is to restore power with some quick fixes to the network and then gradually strengthen it to avoid problems like blackouts and make it less vulnerable to future storms.
The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA, has more than 2,400 miles of major transmission lines and more than 30,000 miles of smaller distribution wires that connect homes and businesses to the grid. Much of the network is down.
Officials hoped to use helicopters and drones to get a better look and help them decide where to send repair crews first.
Unlike Texas and Florida, where Hurricanes Harvey and Irma knocked out power grids this summer, workers from other utilities on the U.S. mainland can't hop in trucks and drive to Puerto Rico. By Monday afternoon the main airport in San Juan was not yet operating normally, which is slowing the airlift of crews, generators and other equipment.
Even before Maria hit, the power authority said it needed more than $4 billion to upgrade its infrastructure after years of under-investment left it with an inefficient and unreliable system. Its fleet of power plants has a median age of 44 years; the average age across the United States is 18 years.
The power authority already had more than $9 billion in debt when it filed for what is essentially bankruptcy protection in July. It was weakened by the island's long recession, which sapped demand for electricity, but it also struggled to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid bills.
Last year, consultants hired by the Puerto Rico Energy Commission wrote a scathing report about the power authority, noting that outages occurred four or five times more often than at mainland U.S. utilities because of a history of neglecting maintenance.
"It is difficult to overstate the level of disrepair or operational neglect at PREPA's generation facilities," wrote consultants from Synapse Energy Economics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They said that frequently there were "simple failures that blossom into crises."
What to Know The I-Team found North Korea's diplomatic mission to the UN has racked up more than 1,300 unpaid NYC parking tix dating back to the 1990s
As of this year, the total debt has climbed to more than $156,000
A man who identified himself as the secretary of North Korea's UN mission told the I-Team there must be an error
While North Korea's rogue leader, Kim Jong-un, spends untold resources on his nuclear program, there is one thing he is not paying for: His country's parking tickets.
An I-Team investigation found North Korea's diplomatic mission to the United Nations has racked up more than 1,300 unpaid New York City parking tickets going back to the 1990s. As of this year, the total debt has climbed to more than $156,000.
The I-Team sent an inquiry to an email address listed on North Koreas diplomatic website, but a responding message said the email was incorrect.
The I-Team was able to track down a North Korean diplomat near the nations UN office on 44th Street. He identified himself as Jong Jo, secretary of North Koreas UN mission. Jong Jo told the I-Team he believes there must be an error because New York City has had the right to withhold diplomatic parking privileges from vehicles that accumulate too many unpaid tickets.
"It's not true," Jong Jo said. "It is false. Whenever we have a ticket, we pay. Because, you know, if we have three tickets the city does not allow us to renew their permission."
A 2002 memorandum of understanding (MOU) between New York City and the U.S. Department of State does make clear New York City can withhold a diplomatic parking decal if a vehicle accumulates three or more unpaid tickets. But most of North Koreas parking debt occurred before 2002, when the nations diplomatic vehicles regularly racked up dozens of ignored and unpaid violations with little consequence.
And North Korea is far from the only nation appearing to skip out on hefty illegal parking bills. An I-Team analysis found vehicles assigned to diplomatic delegations from a multitude of countries have accumulated more than $16 million in combined unpaid penalties since the 1990s.
Among the notable scofflaws:
Syria, with $362,550 in parking debt
Iran, with $184,987 in parking debt
Russia, with $104,231 in parking debt
China, with $398,736 in parking debt
Representatives of those nations diplomatic delegations did not respond to the I-Teams requests for comment.
Since the MOU was signed in 2002, there has been a dramatic decrease in diplomatic parking abuse. The NYC Department of Finance says foreign nations have incurred just $679,000 worth of parking violation liabilities in the last 15 years compared with millions prior to 2002. The de Blasio administration says parking tickets prior to 2002 are not forgiven -- and diplomatic delegations must still pay their debt.
New Yorkers who do pay their parking fines were disappointed to hear nations like North Korea and Syria are failing to pay old tickets, especially because those nations have had rocky diplomatic relationships with the U.S.
Trump needs to do something about that since hes complaining about everything else, said Sioban Huggins, a driver from Flatbush who just paid an outstanding parking fine.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State said the Trump administration takes seriously the problem of diplomats who abuse parking privileges, issuing a statement that reads, in part:
The Department strictly enforces the rules and associated consequences concerning our extension of driving privileges to foreign mission members in the United States. This is a responsibility that we take very seriously, meaning we ensure that, irrespective to an individuals entitlement to immunity, there are consequences when a foreign mission member fails to comply with U.S. motor vehicle laws.. . . With this said, it is important for police to treat foreign diplomatic and consular personnel with respect. It is not an exaggeration to say that police handing of incidents in this country could have a direct effect on the treatment of US diplomatic and consular personnel serving abroad.
The State Departments Office of Foreign Missions (OFM) issues driver's licenses to diplomats and other staff at foreign missions to the UN. OFM also keeps records of diplomatic driver histories, reserving the right to revoke U.S. driving privileges or even force the a diplomat to leave the U.S. for ignoring or violating motor vehicle law.
The I-Team asked if any diplomatic drivers have been disciplined - or if any diplomatic license plates have been revoked - in the last five years.
The U.S. Department of State has not yet responded to those questions.
From an Advent Open Evening to Carols in the Cloister and an array of special services and concerts with Norwich Cathedral Choir, there is lots to look forward to at Norwich Cathedral this festive season.
From an Advent Open Evening to Carols in the Cloister and an array of special services and concerts with Norwich Cathedral Choir, there is lots to look forward to at Norwich Cathedral this festive season.
Norwich church to hold Sunday healing service Witard Road Baptist Church is hosting a healing service this coming Sunday led by Rev Ray and Ruth Scorey from Norfolk Healing Rooms. Read more
Sheringham youth attend forbidden church The youth group at Lighthouse Community Church in Sheringham were forced to meet at a secret location earlier this month when the Lighthouse building had, supposedly, been shut down by the authorities. Read more
Christmas pud workshop at Norwich church Not made your Christmas pudding yet? Don't know where to start? Come along to a Christmas pudding workshop at Norwich Central Baptist Church on November 21 with MasterChef contestant Jane Wyndham. Read more
Norwich Foodbank provides over 4,700 food parcels Norwich Foodbank gave out 4,793 emergency food parcels to people across Norwich in the last year with 1,790 of these going to children. Read more
Poppies cascading in Sheringham church A fall of poppies cascades from the pulpit in St Andrews Methodist Church in Sheringham, and anyone is welcome to come and see them. Read more
Bishop Graham's prayers for COP27 climate conference Bishop Graham is publishing daily prayers on social media for the current COP27 climate conference, and is asking all to join. Read more
Discovering the Orange in your life The vibrant colours of autumn have been inspiring regular contributor Jane Walters to focus on the positive. Read more
YMCA annual celebration set to inspire YMCA Norfolk is set to hold its much anticipated 2022 annual celebration and awards ceremony on November 17, after almost 3 years since the last event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more
Hub manager vacancy at community shop Earlham Community Shop Community Interest Company is looking to appoint a manager for this new venture being developed in the heart of NR5 Norwich. Read more
Abbey Days brings Christmas Magic to Wymondham Visitors to Wymondham Abbeys Christmas fair will be able to treat their children to a magic show and fun baking workshop while they browse more than 60 stalls. Read more
Salvation Armys new Christmas Appeal in Norfolk The Salvation Army has launched their new Christmas appeal across Norfolk which, this year, has evolved from the much-loved Toys and Tins appeal. Read more
Are we storing up treasures on earth? Rising prices affect us all, and Anna Heydon urges us to spare a thought for those who will be struggling with the cost of living this winter. Read more
Latest Norfolk Christian community events Events of interest to the Norwich and Norfolk Christian community happening over the next few weeks are listed. Read more
Covid leaf memorial at Norwich church St Peter Mancroft Church Norwich Presents The Leaves of the Trees an installation by sculptor Peter Walker which provides a memorial for those who died of Covid-19 Read more
Community Chaplaincy Norfolk begins a new chapter Community Chaplaincy Norfolk (CCN) celebrated the beginning of a new chapter this week, as the new chair of trustees Chris Tomlinson led his first annual meeting. Read more
Lowestoft Christians launch on-line bible helps app The Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth branch of Good News for Everyone (GNFE), formerly the Gideons, have introduced a new mobile phone app called On-line Bible Helps. Read more
Addicts' rehabilitation centre plan for Drayton Hall Christian addiction charity Teen Challenge London is planning to turn Drayton Hall near Norwich into its headquarters and a rehabilitation centre for men, after it was gifted the freehold of the hall by its owner, the Lind Trust. Read more
New Norfolk Area Coordinator widens Shoebox Appeal New Norfolk Area Coordinator widens Shoebox Appeal
Trish Ellse, from Wymondham, is Norfolks new Area Coordinator for Operation Christmas Child, with a vision to build on the project which last year facilitated 9,000 shoeboxes donated from Norfolk, to be given as unconditional gifts to children in Central Asia and the Ukraine.
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The Bladebone owner and chef is in the running for an award
THE head chef and owner of The Bladebone in Chapel Row is in the running for an award.
Richie Sanderson, who took over the pub in December 2015, was nominated for the 2017/18 Parliamentary Pub Chef of the Year award by Newbury MP Richard Benyon.
Mr Sanderson said: To receive the call, being told I had been nominated for this amazing award by our local MP, really was the icing on the proverbial cake, after two years of really hard, but incredibly rewarding work.
Im lucky to be able to do what I love every day, reflecting the passion I have for great food on the plate and in the Bladebone, alongside our fantastic team, who along with my proud family, make the success of the Bladebone possible.Ill continue pushing for excellence through our menus, to ensure our customers always receive the best.
Mr Benyon said: Local pubs are the focal point of their communities and I have made a point of trying to support them in any way I can ever since I became MP for Newbury.
As well as good beer, pubs increasingly need to provide good food and these awards highlight the extraordinary talent and quality of the best pub chefs.
I am delighted to nominate Richie Sanderson of the Bladebone pub in my constituency as an outstanding example of this sort of innovative and entrepreneurial chef.
There are two categories in the award Pub Chef of the Year and Young Pub Chef of the Year.
Entrants will be judged by an expert panel, who will shortlist contenders for the cook-off.
There, they will display their skills to the organisers, The British Beer and Pub Association, as well as judges from sponsors Nestle Professional, the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group and TV guest chef presenter and former Michelin star holder Paul Merrett.
The award will be presented in the New Year and is run by the British Beer & Pub Association and the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group.
Managing director of Nestle Professional George Vezza said: Fostering the next generation of talent is something we're passionate about at Nestle Professional and we wish all entrants the best of luck.
ENS Economic Bureau By
Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu has held talks with top representatives of Korean industries in Seoul, the commerce ministry said in a statement on Saturday. The minister, who was on a three-day visit to South Korea, also discussed ways to increase business cooperation, it added.
Prabhu travelled to Korea to participate in the 7th Asia-Europe Economic Ministers meeting and the 3rd Joint Ministerial Review of the India-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. At the ASEM meeting, the minister underlined the emergence of India as one of the worlds leading investment destinations.
The minister also exchanged views on the prospects for more business cooperation with executives of top South Korean companies including Samsung, Kia motors, Hyundai Electric and Posco. In a detailed exchange of views with these businesses, and the Federation of Korean Industries, issues and prospects for more business cooperation were discussed, the ministry said. Prabhu also held a meeting with the chairman of South Koreas ruling Democratic Party ChooMi-ae. Calling India a shining star in the global economy, Ms Choo noted that the elephant was out performing the dragon, the statement noted.
NEW DELHI: Commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu has held talks with top representatives of Korean industries in Seoul, the commerce ministry said in a statement on Saturday. The minister, who was on a three-day visit to South Korea, also discussed ways to increase business cooperation, it added. Prabhu travelled to Korea to participate in the 7th Asia-Europe Economic Ministers meeting and the 3rd Joint Ministerial Review of the India-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. At the ASEM meeting, the minister underlined the emergence of India as one of the worlds leading investment destinations. The minister also exchanged views on the prospects for more business cooperation with executives of top South Korean companies including Samsung, Kia motors, Hyundai Electric and Posco. In a detailed exchange of views with these businesses, and the Federation of Korean Industries, issues and prospects for more business cooperation were discussed, the ministry said. Prabhu also held a meeting with the chairman of South Koreas ruling Democratic Party ChooMi-ae. Calling India a shining star in the global economy, Ms Choo noted that the elephant was out performing the dragon, the statement noted.
By PTI
NEW DELHI: India is engaging with various countries, including Uzbekistan, to procure nuclear fuel as part of its plan to create a strategic uranium reserve to ensure long-term security.
The plan is to have a stockpile of nuclear fuel for its strategic uranium reserve that can sustain the country's reactors for the next five years so that they do not stop functioning because of the lack of uranium.
In the past, the Indian power reactors were under-performing due to shortage of uranium, owing to the sanctions imposed by the West post 1974 Pokhran nuclear tests.
Talks are currently being held with Uzbekistan, a senior government official said, and a delegation from the Central Asian country had visited India last month to discuss the issue in detail. The delegation came just two months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Astana in June this year, said a senior Ministry of External Affairs official, on condition of anonymity.
"We have been looking to import uranium from Uzbekistan in the past. Back then, they had refused to transport uranium to an Indian port. But now they have agreed to do so and negotiations are on," said a senior government official requesting anonymity.
According to the World Nuclear Association, an international organisation that represents the global nuclear industry, the landlocked Central Asian country is the seventh largest exporter of uranium in the world.
Attempts are also being made to procure uranium from Australia. A nuclear cooperation pact between the two nations was signed in 2014 and came into force in 2015.
Uranium mining in Australia is mostly done by private players. However, a senior government official pointed out that Australian uranium is "impure" in nature. "We have got nearly a kilogramme of uranium from Australia. This is being tested by the Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad to determine the price of the uranium. We are hopeful that the uranium import starts by next year," the official added.
India's concerns to have a stockpile of nuclear fuel emanate from the time when its atomic reactors functioned below its capacity level due to the shortage of uranium. The US and other nations had imposed sanctions on India following the Pokhran nuclear tests in 1974.
Post Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement, New Delhi's quest to have an uranium reserve got traction as importing fuel became much easier.
Apart from domestic production, India currently imports uranium from Kazakhstan and Canada. This is primarily used to fuel its indigenously built Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors. It procures enriched uranium from Russia for its two Boiling Water Reactors at Tarapur in Maharashtra.
As part of its contract, Russia also supplies uranium to fuel the two reactors at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu. Apart from it, it has agreements in place to import uranium from Namibia and Mongolia.
The government recently approved 10 Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors with a capacity to generate 7000 MW. Work on four reactors with a capacity of 1000 MW each is in progress, apart from seven domestic reactors. "We will now have 21 reactors under construction and 22 reactors in operation. This will increase the capacity to over 22,000 MWe by the end of next decade. We shall continue to add more capacity in future," Sekhar Basu, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) secretary and chairman of the Atomic Energy said at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) general conference at Vienna last week.
The IAEA is a global nuclear watchdog, with its headquarters in Vienna.
NEW DELHI: India is engaging with various countries, including Uzbekistan, to procure nuclear fuel as part of its plan to create a strategic uranium reserve to ensure long-term security. The plan is to have a stockpile of nuclear fuel for its strategic uranium reserve that can sustain the country's reactors for the next five years so that they do not stop functioning because of the lack of uranium. In the past, the Indian power reactors were under-performing due to shortage of uranium, owing to the sanctions imposed by the West post 1974 Pokhran nuclear tests. Talks are currently being held with Uzbekistan, a senior government official said, and a delegation from the Central Asian country had visited India last month to discuss the issue in detail. The delegation came just two months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Astana in June this year, said a senior Ministry of External Affairs official, on condition of anonymity. "We have been looking to import uranium from Uzbekistan in the past. Back then, they had refused to transport uranium to an Indian port. But now they have agreed to do so and negotiations are on," said a senior government official requesting anonymity. According to the World Nuclear Association, an international organisation that represents the global nuclear industry, the landlocked Central Asian country is the seventh largest exporter of uranium in the world. Attempts are also being made to procure uranium from Australia. A nuclear cooperation pact between the two nations was signed in 2014 and came into force in 2015. Uranium mining in Australia is mostly done by private players. However, a senior government official pointed out that Australian uranium is "impure" in nature. "We have got nearly a kilogramme of uranium from Australia. This is being tested by the Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad to determine the price of the uranium. We are hopeful that the uranium import starts by next year," the official added. India's concerns to have a stockpile of nuclear fuel emanate from the time when its atomic reactors functioned below its capacity level due to the shortage of uranium. The US and other nations had imposed sanctions on India following the Pokhran nuclear tests in 1974. Post Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement, New Delhi's quest to have an uranium reserve got traction as importing fuel became much easier. Apart from domestic production, India currently imports uranium from Kazakhstan and Canada. This is primarily used to fuel its indigenously built Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors. It procures enriched uranium from Russia for its two Boiling Water Reactors at Tarapur in Maharashtra. As part of its contract, Russia also supplies uranium to fuel the two reactors at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu. Apart from it, it has agreements in place to import uranium from Namibia and Mongolia. The government recently approved 10 Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors with a capacity to generate 7000 MW. Work on four reactors with a capacity of 1000 MW each is in progress, apart from seven domestic reactors. "We will now have 21 reactors under construction and 22 reactors in operation. This will increase the capacity to over 22,000 MWe by the end of next decade. We shall continue to add more capacity in future," Sekhar Basu, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) secretary and chairman of the Atomic Energy said at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) general conference at Vienna last week. The IAEA is a global nuclear watchdog, with its headquarters in Vienna.
By Express News Service
VIJAYAWADA: Commissioners Task Force (CTF) busted an adulterated ghee racket by raiding a ghee manufacturing unit in Kedareswararaopet on Saturday. From the unit, officials seized some 100 kilograms of adulterated Ghee, Dalda and fruit and vegetable waste. According to CTF ACP Muralidhar, the accused, Balasubrahmanyam, the unit owner and his partner took a shop in Fruit market at Kedareswararaopet where they have been packing ghee, shampoos, mouth fresheners and other spices for more than six months. They did not have the licence for running the unit and even misbranded other products like Bharati, Gayathri and Siri that were registered by others. Upon knowing about the wrongdoing, locals complained to police about Subrahmanyam. The unit owner packed the ghee prepared by mixing Dalda and other oils and marketed them in small sachets.
The accused was preparing ghee in some other place and packed it in small sachets here which were then sold in the market at low prices. By targeting lower and middle class sections, the illegal unit made a `5 lakh a month by selling adulterated ghee and other products, said ACP Muralidhar.A case under relevant sections of Public Health Act has been booked against the owner and his accomplice in Satyanarayanapuram police station. The seized stocks have been handed over to the public health officials.
Food safety officials visited the spot and collected samples for testing.
items seized
Food safety officials collected more than 250 samples from the spot and sent it to Food Safety Laboratory.
J52, 34, 440 worth gutka stocks seized
All the seized Food items are worth J29,19,084.
Of the total, 52 samples were found adulterated
Cereals: 3
Oils: 5
Tea powder :1
Ghee: 10
Confectionery :4
Fruits/Veggies: 6
Prepared food: 4
Bakery - 4
Packaged Drinking water - 6
Spices - 5
Salt: 1
Miscellaneous:3
VIJAYAWADA: Commissioners Task Force (CTF) busted an adulterated ghee racket by raiding a ghee manufacturing unit in Kedareswararaopet on Saturday. From the unit, officials seized some 100 kilograms of adulterated Ghee, Dalda and fruit and vegetable waste. According to CTF ACP Muralidhar, the accused, Balasubrahmanyam, the unit owner and his partner took a shop in Fruit market at Kedareswararaopet where they have been packing ghee, shampoos, mouth fresheners and other spices for more than six months. They did not have the licence for running the unit and even misbranded other products like Bharati, Gayathri and Siri that were registered by others. Upon knowing about the wrongdoing, locals complained to police about Subrahmanyam. The unit owner packed the ghee prepared by mixing Dalda and other oils and marketed them in small sachets. The accused was preparing ghee in some other place and packed it in small sachets here which were then sold in the market at low prices. By targeting lower and middle class sections, the illegal unit made a `5 lakh a month by selling adulterated ghee and other products, said ACP Muralidhar.A case under relevant sections of Public Health Act has been booked against the owner and his accomplice in Satyanarayanapuram police station. The seized stocks have been handed over to the public health officials. Food safety officials visited the spot and collected samples for testing. items seized Food safety officials collected more than 250 samples from the spot and sent it to Food Safety Laboratory. J52, 34, 440 worth gutka stocks seized All the seized Food items are worth J29,19,084. Of the total, 52 samples were found adulterated Cereals: 3 Oils: 5 Tea powder :1 Ghee: 10 Confectionery :4 Fruits/Veggies: 6 Prepared food: 4 Bakery - 4 Packaged Drinking water - 6 Spices - 5 Salt: 1 Miscellaneous:3
By IANS
HYDERABAD: A city court here on Saturday sent Bollywood producer Karim Morani to judicial custody for 14 days in a rape case.
Morani surrendered to police late on Friday night in connection with the alleged rape of a 25-year-old aspiring actress, hours after the Supreme Court dismissed his plea for anticipatory bail.
The "Chennai Express" producer surrendered at the Hayathnagar police station on the city's outskirts around midnight. He was formally placed under arrest.
Morani was later produced before a magistrate, who remanded him to judicial custody till October 6. He was lodged in Cherlapally jail on the city outskirts.
The Delhi-based woman alleged that Morani raped her on the pretext of marrying her. She alleged that Morani took her nude pictures and videos and sexually exploited her by threatening to post the same on social media.
The police had booked him in January on charges of rape, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and cheating.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Morani's petition challenging the Hyderabad High Court's verdict cancelling his bail. The apex court directed him to surrender.
The High Court on September 5 had upheld the decision of the sessions court cancelling Morani's bail.
Morani was booked for cheating, rape, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and cohabitation caused by a man deceitfully inducing a belief of marriage under the Indian Penal Code.
The complainant alleged that Morani raped her in Mumbai and also at a film studio in Hyderabad in 2015 after promising to marry her.
The woman, who had done her Bachelor of Business Management (BBA) from Delhi, said she had met Morani through his daughter, who was also a theatre artiste in Mumbai.
The producer, however, had denied the allegations. Morani said the complaint was filed with the sole intention of tarnishing his reputation and image.
The producer's name had also figured as an accused in the 2G spectrum scam. He was accused of helping channel funds to the tune of Rs 200 crore to popular Tamil television channel Kalaignar TV
HYDERABAD: A city court here on Saturday sent Bollywood producer Karim Morani to judicial custody for 14 days in a rape case. Morani surrendered to police late on Friday night in connection with the alleged rape of a 25-year-old aspiring actress, hours after the Supreme Court dismissed his plea for anticipatory bail. The "Chennai Express" producer surrendered at the Hayathnagar police station on the city's outskirts around midnight. He was formally placed under arrest. Morani was later produced before a magistrate, who remanded him to judicial custody till October 6. He was lodged in Cherlapally jail on the city outskirts. The Delhi-based woman alleged that Morani raped her on the pretext of marrying her. She alleged that Morani took her nude pictures and videos and sexually exploited her by threatening to post the same on social media. The police had booked him in January on charges of rape, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and cheating. The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Morani's petition challenging the Hyderabad High Court's verdict cancelling his bail. The apex court directed him to surrender. The High Court on September 5 had upheld the decision of the sessions court cancelling Morani's bail. Morani was booked for cheating, rape, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and cohabitation caused by a man deceitfully inducing a belief of marriage under the Indian Penal Code. The complainant alleged that Morani raped her in Mumbai and also at a film studio in Hyderabad in 2015 after promising to marry her. The woman, who had done her Bachelor of Business Management (BBA) from Delhi, said she had met Morani through his daughter, who was also a theatre artiste in Mumbai. The producer, however, had denied the allegations. Morani said the complaint was filed with the sole intention of tarnishing his reputation and image. The producer's name had also figured as an accused in the 2G spectrum scam. He was accused of helping channel funds to the tune of Rs 200 crore to popular Tamil television channel Kalaignar TV
By Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: Unknown assailants murdered 65-year-old journalist Karamjit Singh and his 92-year-old mother Gurcharan Kaur at their Mohali residence on Saturday. Police found Kaurs body lying on the bed in her bedroom. She was reportedly strangled. Singhs body was found lying in a pool of blood in another room. His throat was slit and there were wounds on his abdomen, indicating that he was stabbed. Police said he may have been stabbed twice or thrice with a sharp-edged weapon. Also, the chairs and tables were pushed to the corners in both the rooms, indicating that the victims resisted the attackers.
Items in all other rooms are intact and nothing has been touched, police said. The attackers stole Singhs car. Apart from that, a small television, which Singh used to keep in his room, his wallet and mobile phone are also missing. As Singh was not married, he had been living with his mother in the house, which was built by his father.
Bloodstain on a door at
KJ Singh's residence.
(Express Photo Service)
When one of his sisters arrived at the house on Saturday, she saw blood on the main door. We first thought that my grandmother might have fallen down so my uncle might have taken her to hospital as the car was not there in the driveway. When we went inside, we found both of them lying dead. I then called the police, said Singhs nephew, who accompanied his mother.
Sources said Singh spoke to one of his relatives at around 7.27 pm on Friday night. On the directions of Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh, the Punjab Police have set up a Special Investigative Team to probe the incident.
Senior superintendent of police of SAS Nagar, Kuldeep Singh Chahal said the police is probing all aspects. However, he ruled out theft as the motivation for the murders.
Sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not rule-out that it could be an insiders job.
Additional DGP (Crime) Parmod Kumar who visited the spot said, Its blind murder and we have few leads. It seems they were murdered at around 8 pm Friday.
Both the bodies have been sent for postmortem. They will be cremated on Sunday.
Singh, who was born on October 14, 1952 in Rohtak town of Haryana, joined the Indian Express in 1978. Later, he joined the Times of India. He has also worked for the Tribune and retired its chief news editor in 2009. Singhs murder comes just two weeks after 55-year-old senior journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead by unidentified assailants outside her residence in Bengaluru.
CHANDIGARH: Unknown assailants murdered 65-year-old journalist Karamjit Singh and his 92-year-old mother Gurcharan Kaur at their Mohali residence on Saturday. Police found Kaurs body lying on the bed in her bedroom. She was reportedly strangled. Singhs body was found lying in a pool of blood in another room. His throat was slit and there were wounds on his abdomen, indicating that he was stabbed. Police said he may have been stabbed twice or thrice with a sharp-edged weapon. Also, the chairs and tables were pushed to the corners in both the rooms, indicating that the victims resisted the attackers. Items in all other rooms are intact and nothing has been touched, police said. The attackers stole Singhs car. Apart from that, a small television, which Singh used to keep in his room, his wallet and mobile phone are also missing. As Singh was not married, he had been living with his mother in the house, which was built by his father. Bloodstain on a door at KJ Singh's residence. (Express Photo Service)When one of his sisters arrived at the house on Saturday, she saw blood on the main door. We first thought that my grandmother might have fallen down so my uncle might have taken her to hospital as the car was not there in the driveway. When we went inside, we found both of them lying dead. I then called the police, said Singhs nephew, who accompanied his mother. Sources said Singh spoke to one of his relatives at around 7.27 pm on Friday night. On the directions of Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh, the Punjab Police have set up a Special Investigative Team to probe the incident. Senior superintendent of police of SAS Nagar, Kuldeep Singh Chahal said the police is probing all aspects. However, he ruled out theft as the motivation for the murders. Sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not rule-out that it could be an insiders job. Additional DGP (Crime) Parmod Kumar who visited the spot said, Its blind murder and we have few leads. It seems they were murdered at around 8 pm Friday. Both the bodies have been sent for postmortem. They will be cremated on Sunday. Singh, who was born on October 14, 1952 in Rohtak town of Haryana, joined the Indian Express in 1978. Later, he joined the Times of India. He has also worked for the Tribune and retired its chief news editor in 2009. Singhs murder comes just two weeks after 55-year-old senior journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead by unidentified assailants outside her residence in Bengaluru.
By PTI
MUMBAI: Former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane, who has quit the Congress, is scheduled to meet BJP president Amit Shah in Delhi tomorrow.
Rane quit the Congress earlier this week amid speculations that he was keen on joining the BJP.
"The venue and time of the meeting are not known yet, but Rane will be meeting Shah in Delhi tomorrow," a source close to the Maratha leader told PTI.
"He (Rane) will be inviting Shah to inaugurate a hospital at Padwe in Kudal in the Sindhudurg district," he added.
There has been no word from the BJP yet on whether Rane will be joining the party.
Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil, when asked about the possibility of Rane joining the saffron party, had said that a decision in that regard would be taken by Shah as Rane was a former chief minister.
Announcing his decision to quit the Congress at his home turf of Sindhudurg district in the coastal Konkan region, Rane had accused the party of reneging on the promise of making him the chief minister of Maharashtra when he joined it 12 years ago after leaving the Shiv Sena.
The Maratha leader, who was the chief minister of Maharashtra in 1999 while he was in the Shiv Sena, said he had also resigned as a member of the state Legislative Council.
"I have not yet decided where to go," he had said, referring to the speculations about his joining the BJP, and added that he would make an announcement before Dussehra, which will be observed on September 30 this year.
The former firebrand Sena leader had joined the Congress in 2005.
Speculations about Rane joining the BJP were triggered by reports suggesting he had met Shah in Ahmedabad a few months ago. During the recent Ganesh festival, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, also from the BJP, had paid a visit to Rane at the latter's residence.
Rane, who enjoys pockets of influence in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, was expelled from the Sena by then party supremo Bal Thackeray for voicing displeasure over the latter's son, Uddhav, gaining prominence in the party.
A tough-talking leader, Rane, who was handpicked by Thackeray as the chief minister when he decided to remove Manohar Joshi ahead of the 1999 Maharashtra Assembly polls, had recently claimed that he had received an offer from the Sena to return to its fold.
The recent threat by the Sena to pull out of the BJP-led coalition governments in the state and at the Centre is being seen in the political circles as an attempt to thwart Rane's entry into the saffron party.
MUMBAI: Former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane, who has quit the Congress, is scheduled to meet BJP president Amit Shah in Delhi tomorrow. Rane quit the Congress earlier this week amid speculations that he was keen on joining the BJP. "The venue and time of the meeting are not known yet, but Rane will be meeting Shah in Delhi tomorrow," a source close to the Maratha leader told PTI. "He (Rane) will be inviting Shah to inaugurate a hospital at Padwe in Kudal in the Sindhudurg district," he added. There has been no word from the BJP yet on whether Rane will be joining the party. Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil, when asked about the possibility of Rane joining the saffron party, had said that a decision in that regard would be taken by Shah as Rane was a former chief minister. Announcing his decision to quit the Congress at his home turf of Sindhudurg district in the coastal Konkan region, Rane had accused the party of reneging on the promise of making him the chief minister of Maharashtra when he joined it 12 years ago after leaving the Shiv Sena. The Maratha leader, who was the chief minister of Maharashtra in 1999 while he was in the Shiv Sena, said he had also resigned as a member of the state Legislative Council. "I have not yet decided where to go," he had said, referring to the speculations about his joining the BJP, and added that he would make an announcement before Dussehra, which will be observed on September 30 this year. The former firebrand Sena leader had joined the Congress in 2005. Speculations about Rane joining the BJP were triggered by reports suggesting he had met Shah in Ahmedabad a few months ago. During the recent Ganesh festival, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, also from the BJP, had paid a visit to Rane at the latter's residence. Rane, who enjoys pockets of influence in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, was expelled from the Sena by then party supremo Bal Thackeray for voicing displeasure over the latter's son, Uddhav, gaining prominence in the party. A tough-talking leader, Rane, who was handpicked by Thackeray as the chief minister when he decided to remove Manohar Joshi ahead of the 1999 Maharashtra Assembly polls, had recently claimed that he had received an offer from the Sena to return to its fold. The recent threat by the Sena to pull out of the BJP-led coalition governments in the state and at the Centre is being seen in the political circles as an attempt to thwart Rane's entry into the saffron party.
By PTI
NEW DELHI: In future, if a central ministry plans to bring in a new law, it may have to declare whether its enactment will lead to a spurt in court cases.
The ministries will also have to ensure that the new law or an amendment to an existing Act does not lead to a increase in litigations, a senior government functionary has said quoting a document.
The note has been written by Minister of State for Law P P Chaudhary to his senior minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and the Cabinet Secretariat.
The functionary said proposed bills should also focus on alternative dispute resolution to ensure that disputes arising out of laws are settled out-of-court.
If the government accepts the suggestion, then all future bills placed in Parliament would carry a 'litigation assessment' clause and the ministry concern will have to explain whether it expects litigations once the legislation becomes a law.
"The focus is to ensure that laws do not attract court cases," the functionary explained.
In the last week of July, the department of justice in the law ministry had held a meeting on ways to reduce litigation where government is a party. Chaudhary's note is an outcome of that meeting.
According to the law ministry, out of more than three crore cases pending in various courts of the country, 46 per cent involve government departments or government bodies.
Last October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had termed the government as the "biggest litigant", saying there was a need to lessen the load on the judiciary which spent its maximum time in tackling cases where the government was a party.
Addressing the golden jubilee celebrations of the Delhi High Court, the prime minister had said the load on the judiciary could be reduced if cases were filed after taking a considered view.
He had said if a teacher approached a court over a service matter and won, then the judgement should be used as a yardstick to extend the benefit to thousands of others to reduce litigation at a later stage.
NEW DELHI: In future, if a central ministry plans to bring in a new law, it may have to declare whether its enactment will lead to a spurt in court cases. The ministries will also have to ensure that the new law or an amendment to an existing Act does not lead to a increase in litigations, a senior government functionary has said quoting a document. The note has been written by Minister of State for Law P P Chaudhary to his senior minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and the Cabinet Secretariat. The functionary said proposed bills should also focus on alternative dispute resolution to ensure that disputes arising out of laws are settled out-of-court. If the government accepts the suggestion, then all future bills placed in Parliament would carry a 'litigation assessment' clause and the ministry concern will have to explain whether it expects litigations once the legislation becomes a law. "The focus is to ensure that laws do not attract court cases," the functionary explained. In the last week of July, the department of justice in the law ministry had held a meeting on ways to reduce litigation where government is a party. Chaudhary's note is an outcome of that meeting. According to the law ministry, out of more than three crore cases pending in various courts of the country, 46 per cent involve government departments or government bodies. Last October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had termed the government as the "biggest litigant", saying there was a need to lessen the load on the judiciary which spent its maximum time in tackling cases where the government was a party. Addressing the golden jubilee celebrations of the Delhi High Court, the prime minister had said the load on the judiciary could be reduced if cases were filed after taking a considered view. He had said if a teacher approached a court over a service matter and won, then the judgement should be used as a yardstick to extend the benefit to thousands of others to reduce litigation at a later stage.
FOOD & DRINK
Let's Eat: At Olbrich's new biergarten, spend the afternoon by the lake with a pretzel
By IANS
NEW DELHI: India will on Monday dispatch around 900 tonnes of relief material for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh which is being loaded on to Indian Naval Ship Gharial at Kakinada port in Andhra Pradesh.
Naval officials said the relief material -- sufficient for around 62,000 displaced families -- will on September 28 reach Chittagong in Bangladesh, where thousands of Rohinya refugees have fled to from Myanmar.
The material is packaged in customised family packets, containing essential items like ration, clothes, and mosquito nets. By Sunday afternoon, approximately 21,000 units had been loaded.
India sent relief material earlier this month also to Bangladesh by an Indian Air Force C-17 transport aircraft to address the humanitarian crisis emanating from large-scale migration of Rohingya Muslims.
According to the UN, almost 430,000 Rohingyas have fled Myanmar and crossed to Bangladesh since August 25.
NEW DELHI: India will on Monday dispatch around 900 tonnes of relief material for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh which is being loaded on to Indian Naval Ship Gharial at Kakinada port in Andhra Pradesh. Naval officials said the relief material -- sufficient for around 62,000 displaced families -- will on September 28 reach Chittagong in Bangladesh, where thousands of Rohinya refugees have fled to from Myanmar. The material is packaged in customised family packets, containing essential items like ration, clothes, and mosquito nets. By Sunday afternoon, approximately 21,000 units had been loaded. India sent relief material earlier this month also to Bangladesh by an Indian Air Force C-17 transport aircraft to address the humanitarian crisis emanating from large-scale migration of Rohingya Muslims. According to the UN, almost 430,000 Rohingyas have fled Myanmar and crossed to Bangladesh since August 25.
Fayaz Wani By
Express News Service
SRINAGAR: Security forces on Sunday foiled 2016 Uri-like attack by killing three Lashkar-e-Toiba fidayeen during a day-long encounter in Kalgi village, close to Line of Control (LoC) in Uri in North Kashmirs Baramulla district. Four civilians and an army man were injured during the gunfight.
Police, army and CRPF launched a joint cordon and search operation in Kalgi villages of Uri early this morning after locals informed the police that they have seen militants in the forest area, Inspector General of Police North Kashmir, Nitish Kumar told New Indian Express.
He said the three militants were fidayeen and were planning September 2016-like fidayeen attack on army installation in Uri, close to LoC.
Sources said a joint team of army, police and CRPF conducted search operations in the dense forest area in the village to track down the militants, who were hiding there and planning a major attack on security force installations.
The security personnel were assisted by army helicopters in locating the position of militants, they said.
As the search operation was going on, militants hiding in the forest area fired on troops from automatic weapons. The fire was returned by the security personnel, triggering an encounter, they said.
Kumar said in the initial gunfight, a militant was killed.
The militants had taken three civilians hostage and security personnel rescued the civilians during operations and later launched a final assault on the militants, he said.
More security personnel were rushed to the area after the gunfight erupted to tighten the siege and prevent militants from escaping.
Throughout the day, the area rattled with gunfire and explosions.
The fierce exchange of fire between the militants and security personnel continued till this evening during which two more militants were killed, Kumar said.
He said bodies of all three militants have been recovered.
Sources said three civilians and an army man sustained bullet injuries during the encounter and have been hospitalized.
As per preliminary investigation, the slain militants belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba and were on a mission to launch September 2016-like Uri attack, Kumar said.
In September last year, four militants of Jaish-e-Mohammad had attacked an army base in Uri, killing 19 soldiers and injuring two dozen others. All the four militants were also killed during the encounter.
Kumar said a large cache of arms and ammunition including AK 47 rifles, ammunition, warlike stores, medicines and incriminating material has been recovered from the possession of the slain militants.
He said the identity of the militants was being ascertained.
Asked whether the militants had recently infiltrated or were present there from some time, Kumar said, As per our initial investigation, it seems that they had recently infiltrated.
Further investigations are going in, he said adding, We are indebted to villagers for informing us about the presence of militants and allowing us to foil major attack on security forces installations.
Three cops injured in Sopore grenade blast
Two policemen and a paramilitary CRPF man were injured in a grenade explosion in sensitive Sopore town of north Kashmirs Baramulla district today.
A police spokesman said militants hurled a grenade towards security forces bulletproof (BP) vehicle at Sopore town this morning.
He said the grenade landed inside the BP vehicle.
However, before it could have exploded, a Special Police Officer (SPO) present inside the vehicle showed the presence of mind and threw the grenade on the road.
Two policemen and a CRPF man sustained minor injuries as the grenade exploded on the road, he said.
The spokesman said SPO saved lives of at least dozen security personnel present in the vehicle by throwing the grenade on the road.
SRINAGAR: Security forces on Sunday foiled 2016 Uri-like attack by killing three Lashkar-e-Toiba fidayeen during a day-long encounter in Kalgi village, close to Line of Control (LoC) in Uri in North Kashmirs Baramulla district. Four civilians and an army man were injured during the gunfight. Police, army and CRPF launched a joint cordon and search operation in Kalgi villages of Uri early this morning after locals informed the police that they have seen militants in the forest area, Inspector General of Police North Kashmir, Nitish Kumar told New Indian Express. He said the three militants were fidayeen and were planning September 2016-like fidayeen attack on army installation in Uri, close to LoC. Sources said a joint team of army, police and CRPF conducted search operations in the dense forest area in the village to track down the militants, who were hiding there and planning a major attack on security force installations. The security personnel were assisted by army helicopters in locating the position of militants, they said. As the search operation was going on, militants hiding in the forest area fired on troops from automatic weapons. The fire was returned by the security personnel, triggering an encounter, they said. Kumar said in the initial gunfight, a militant was killed. The militants had taken three civilians hostage and security personnel rescued the civilians during operations and later launched a final assault on the militants, he said. More security personnel were rushed to the area after the gunfight erupted to tighten the siege and prevent militants from escaping. Throughout the day, the area rattled with gunfire and explosions. The fierce exchange of fire between the militants and security personnel continued till this evening during which two more militants were killed, Kumar said. He said bodies of all three militants have been recovered. Sources said three civilians and an army man sustained bullet injuries during the encounter and have been hospitalized. As per preliminary investigation, the slain militants belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba and were on a mission to launch September 2016-like Uri attack, Kumar said. In September last year, four militants of Jaish-e-Mohammad had attacked an army base in Uri, killing 19 soldiers and injuring two dozen others. All the four militants were also killed during the encounter. Kumar said a large cache of arms and ammunition including AK 47 rifles, ammunition, warlike stores, medicines and incriminating material has been recovered from the possession of the slain militants. He said the identity of the militants was being ascertained. Asked whether the militants had recently infiltrated or were present there from some time, Kumar said, As per our initial investigation, it seems that they had recently infiltrated. Further investigations are going in, he said adding, We are indebted to villagers for informing us about the presence of militants and allowing us to foil major attack on security forces installations. Three cops injured in Sopore grenade blast Two policemen and a paramilitary CRPF man were injured in a grenade explosion in sensitive Sopore town of north Kashmirs Baramulla district today. A police spokesman said militants hurled a grenade towards security forces bulletproof (BP) vehicle at Sopore town this morning. He said the grenade landed inside the BP vehicle. However, before it could have exploded, a Special Police Officer (SPO) present inside the vehicle showed the presence of mind and threw the grenade on the road. Two policemen and a CRPF man sustained minor injuries as the grenade exploded on the road, he said. The spokesman said SPO saved lives of at least dozen security personnel present in the vehicle by throwing the grenade on the road.
By IANS
RAJOURI: Two Indian soldiers were injured on Sunday in Pakistani firing on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.
A Defence Ministry source said here that the Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked firing at Indian positions in Bhimber Ghali area.
"Two of our soldiers were injured in the Pakistani firing which started at 3 a.m.," the source said. "The Indian posts retaliated effectively and strongly. The injured were shifted to a hospital."
Lat week, India's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) had issued a statement after a telephonic conversation with his Pakistani counterpart saying that India would not hesitate to retaliate if Pakistan continued to fire at Indian troops along the Line of Control (LoC).
Further details are awaited.
RAJOURI: Two Indian soldiers were injured on Sunday in Pakistani firing on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district. A Defence Ministry source said here that the Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked firing at Indian positions in Bhimber Ghali area. "Two of our soldiers were injured in the Pakistani firing which started at 3 a.m.," the source said. "The Indian posts retaliated effectively and strongly. The injured were shifted to a hospital." Lat week, India's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) had issued a statement after a telephonic conversation with his Pakistani counterpart saying that India would not hesitate to retaliate if Pakistan continued to fire at Indian troops along the Line of Control (LoC). Further details are awaited.
By ANI
NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday thanked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for recognising his governments' "great" vision of setting up IITs and IIMs during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) address.
Taking to his Twitter page, the Congress leader said, Sushma ji, thank you for finally recognising Congress governments' great vision and legacy of setting up IITs and IIMs.
Addressing the 72nd UNGA session in New York, EAM Swaraj on Saturday ripped apart Pakistan and said that India has established institutions like IITs, IIMs and AIIMS and Pakistan had created terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Haqqani network.
She added that India had produced scholars, doctors and engineers but the Asian neighbour produced terrorists. EAM Swarajs fiery speech bashing Pakistan garnered attention from all the corners and several politicians including Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh hailed her befitting reply to the Islamabad.
Singh took to Twitter and said, "Congratulations to Smt. @SushmaSwaraj on her powerful, measured and nuanced articulation of India's stand on the issue of terrorism at #UNGA (sic)" He further tweeted, "Her measured responses in spite of provocations speak volumes of her maturity & tenacity. She has exposed Pakistan's duplicity on terrorism."
NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday thanked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for recognising his governments' "great" vision of setting up IITs and IIMs during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) address. Taking to his Twitter page, the Congress leader said, Sushma ji, thank you for finally recognising Congress governments' great vision and legacy of setting up IITs and IIMs. Addressing the 72nd UNGA session in New York, EAM Swaraj on Saturday ripped apart Pakistan and said that India has established institutions like IITs, IIMs and AIIMS and Pakistan had created terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Haqqani network. She added that India had produced scholars, doctors and engineers but the Asian neighbour produced terrorists. EAM Swarajs fiery speech bashing Pakistan garnered attention from all the corners and several politicians including Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh hailed her befitting reply to the Islamabad. Singh took to Twitter and said, "Congratulations to Smt. @SushmaSwaraj on her powerful, measured and nuanced articulation of India's stand on the issue of terrorism at #UNGA (sic)" He further tweeted, "Her measured responses in spite of provocations speak volumes of her maturity & tenacity. She has exposed Pakistan's duplicity on terrorism."
By IANS
NEW DELHI: The two-day BJP National Executive meet began on Sunday, with party chief Amit Shah inaugurating a meeting of party office-bearers at the NDMC Convention Centre here.
The Indian economy's slowing growth as well as the next round of Assembly polls will top the agenda of the meeting.
The main meeting will be held on Monday at the Talkatora Stadium.
According to party leaders, 15 BJP Chief Ministers, six Deputy Chief Ministers, 1,400 MLAs, 85 members of legislative councils, 280 ministers and 336 MPs would attend.
Shah iaugurated the office-bearers' meeting to finalise the agenda and resolutions likely to be passed at the Monday meet.
Besides party's central office-bearers, all state Bharatiya Janata Party Presidents and General Secretaries (Organisation) attended Sunday's meeting.
The government is concerned over latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been talking of a package to revive economic growth after the November 8 demonetisation slowed it down.
Shah will deliver the inaugural address on Monday while Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the concluding session.
Modi is likely to address the concerns over the state of the Indian economy and is all set to list the achievements of his government in the last three years.
Usually, the National Executive members alone attend the meeting but this time the BJP is holding an extended meeting, with invites going to all elected representatives of the party. Besides, State presidents, State general secretaries and several other party functionaries will also attend.
A political and an economic resolution is set to be passed by the National Executive. Sources in the BJP said party Vice President Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and General Secretary Ram Madhav have been assigned to prepare the resolutions.
The sources said the economic resolution is likely to mention demonetisation as a "bold decision to curb the menace of corruption" and the passage of Goods and Services Tax as another feather in the Modi cap.
During the meeting, Shah will take stock of organisational works taken up in Bhubaneswar in the last National Executive meet.
To mark the birth centenary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh idiologue Deendayal Upadhyaya, the BJP had asked all its state units to hold programmes. Shah will also take stock of the campaign.
Posters put up here also have pictures of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani.
NEW DELHI: The two-day BJP National Executive meet began on Sunday, with party chief Amit Shah inaugurating a meeting of party office-bearers at the NDMC Convention Centre here. The Indian economy's slowing growth as well as the next round of Assembly polls will top the agenda of the meeting. The main meeting will be held on Monday at the Talkatora Stadium. According to party leaders, 15 BJP Chief Ministers, six Deputy Chief Ministers, 1,400 MLAs, 85 members of legislative councils, 280 ministers and 336 MPs would attend. Shah iaugurated the office-bearers' meeting to finalise the agenda and resolutions likely to be passed at the Monday meet. Besides party's central office-bearers, all state Bharatiya Janata Party Presidents and General Secretaries (Organisation) attended Sunday's meeting. The government is concerned over latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been talking of a package to revive economic growth after the November 8 demonetisation slowed it down. Shah will deliver the inaugural address on Monday while Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the concluding session. Modi is likely to address the concerns over the state of the Indian economy and is all set to list the achievements of his government in the last three years. Usually, the National Executive members alone attend the meeting but this time the BJP is holding an extended meeting, with invites going to all elected representatives of the party. Besides, State presidents, State general secretaries and several other party functionaries will also attend. A political and an economic resolution is set to be passed by the National Executive. Sources in the BJP said party Vice President Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and General Secretary Ram Madhav have been assigned to prepare the resolutions. The sources said the economic resolution is likely to mention demonetisation as a "bold decision to curb the menace of corruption" and the passage of Goods and Services Tax as another feather in the Modi cap. During the meeting, Shah will take stock of organisational works taken up in Bhubaneswar in the last National Executive meet. To mark the birth centenary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh idiologue Deendayal Upadhyaya, the BJP had asked all its state units to hold programmes. Shah will also take stock of the campaign. Posters put up here also have pictures of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani.
By Express News Service
BHOPAL: Unidentified thieves decamped with more than Rs 13 lakh from the ATM of a private bank at Sonagiri crossing here, police said. Pipalani police station inspector Brijesh Bhargava said, according to initial investigations, the thieves opened the ATM on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday and decamped with Rs 13.16 lakh kept in it. However, the ATM revealed that the cashbox was completely locked suggesting that nothing had happened, he added.
Interestingly, the investigation further revealed that the burglars did not break open the ATM, but instead unlocked the cash box by using the secret password that is only known to bank staff and those working for the agency tasked with maintaining the ATM.
The staffers of the private agency tasked with maintenance of the concerned ATM were subsequently called by the police to check the ATM. The agency staffers after checking the ATM revealed that Rs 13,15,800 was missing from the cash box which only contained Rs 600.
The six notes of hundred rupees denomination which were left by the accused in the cash box were either stained with colour or defective, owing to which they were left in the cash box, the cops said.
After the burglary was confirmed, the manager of the local ICICI branch which operates the ATM lodged a complaint with the Piplani police.
Prior to that, at 6 am on Saturday, the local office of the agency maintaining the ATM had got an alert from its Mumbai head office about possible tampering with the concerned ATM. Subsequent investigations by city police revealed that the burglars entered the ATM kiosk at around 11.35 pm on Friday.
The accused after entering the kiosk turned off the lights inside before pulling down the shutter to avoid being spotted by anyone. He then opened the outer cover of the cashbox with the secret password. He stayed inside the ATM for over an hour and left the place at around 1 am, said Brijesh Bhargava.
Probe has also brought to the fore that the burgled ATM was guardless and the security password of the ATM had not been changed by the private agency since last six months, owing to which it was known to at least 20-25 staffers of the agency. The fact that the password had leaked indicated the role of insiders in the heist, they said.
BHOPAL: Unidentified thieves decamped with more than Rs 13 lakh from the ATM of a private bank at Sonagiri crossing here, police said. Pipalani police station inspector Brijesh Bhargava said, according to initial investigations, the thieves opened the ATM on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday and decamped with Rs 13.16 lakh kept in it. However, the ATM revealed that the cashbox was completely locked suggesting that nothing had happened, he added. Interestingly, the investigation further revealed that the burglars did not break open the ATM, but instead unlocked the cash box by using the secret password that is only known to bank staff and those working for the agency tasked with maintaining the ATM. The staffers of the private agency tasked with maintenance of the concerned ATM were subsequently called by the police to check the ATM. The agency staffers after checking the ATM revealed that Rs 13,15,800 was missing from the cash box which only contained Rs 600. The six notes of hundred rupees denomination which were left by the accused in the cash box were either stained with colour or defective, owing to which they were left in the cash box, the cops said. After the burglary was confirmed, the manager of the local ICICI branch which operates the ATM lodged a complaint with the Piplani police. Prior to that, at 6 am on Saturday, the local office of the agency maintaining the ATM had got an alert from its Mumbai head office about possible tampering with the concerned ATM. Subsequent investigations by city police revealed that the burglars entered the ATM kiosk at around 11.35 pm on Friday. The accused after entering the kiosk turned off the lights inside before pulling down the shutter to avoid being spotted by anyone. He then opened the outer cover of the cashbox with the secret password. He stayed inside the ATM for over an hour and left the place at around 1 am, said Brijesh Bhargava. Probe has also brought to the fore that the burgled ATM was guardless and the security password of the ATM had not been changed by the private agency since last six months, owing to which it was known to at least 20-25 staffers of the agency. The fact that the password had leaked indicated the role of insiders in the heist, they said.
Ravi Shankar By
Today is the last Sunday of September, the day for celebrating the rivers of the world. In Hinduism, the river is a metaphor for ancient, sacred tides of karma along which the soul travels to reach the shore of liberation. And the Ganga is the water of life.
A river runs through every Indian. The river of Hindusim is different from Hindutva and its political urgency. It is a mystic flow of liberation that celebrates the beauty of the Vedas and the Upanishads, which contain the essence of man. It does not distinguish between new faiths and the Original Faith, since it knows there is only Onethe faith that salutes the blue god, who presides in fierce meditation over the Himalayas and from whose matted locks surges Indias most sacred river.
The Ganga defines our history and mythology. She is the merciful receiver of all sins. She is the source and end of all prayers. On her banks both life and death find meaning. She is the janeu of India, the thread that knits life and death.
sa eva kushalo janah pranamatiha bhagirathim
sa eva tapasam nidhirjapati janhavim adarat
sa eva purushottamah smarati sadhu mandakini
sa eva vijayi prabhuh surataranginim sevate
(It benefits one who offers obeisances to the Ganga. He is a great ascetic, one who faithfully chants her names. By meditating on her one becomes the best of all people. The person who serves the Mandakini (Ganga) is always victorious, and is considered the master of everyone.)
The Ganga is everything to everyone. The mother of rivers. Her water is regarded as amrit, the nectar of the gods. Its power subsumes other beliefs. History records that Emperor Akbar was never seen without Ganga jal. The sailors of the East India Company only drank Ganga water on their three-month return journey to England, because it was always sweet and fresh. And the Ganga also offers salvation after death.
However, the Ganga herself is dying. The World Wildlife Foundation has marked the Ganga as one of the most endangered rivers in the world. The Mahakumbh, one of Indias holiest of festivals, is held on the banks of the Ganga (and the Yamuna) in Allahabad, where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims come to wash their sins away.
In May 2016, they walked bewildered across the dry river bed, searching for her embrace. The floods came three months later, affecting four million people and displacing 6.5 lakh from their homes. The Gangas aquatic life is endangered by reckless pollution that pours industrial poison into her. The balloning population of the cities along her banks disgorges their excreta into heronce riverside cities were divine destinations. Since 1985, six billion rupees have been wasted on the Ganga Action Plan.
Her sisters are dying, too. Jaggi Vasudev Sadhguru estimates that 25 per cent of India is becoming a desert. In 15 years, water supply will be reduced by half. Last year, most of the Godavari was dry. The waterflow of the Kaveri is down by 60 per cent. The Krishna and Narmada have lost around 60 per cent.
Ancient belief says mornings are blessed by chanting the Gayatri Mantra half immersed in a river, paying obeisance to life-giving sun. In a few decades, the waters of our dying rivers will be so polluted to bathe or drink from. The mythological arteries of Indias eternal faith will become history. And the soul of Hinduism will run dry forever.
Ravi Shankar
ravi@newindianexpress.com
Today is the last Sunday of September, the day for celebrating the rivers of the world. In Hinduism, the river is a metaphor for ancient, sacred tides of karma along which the soul travels to reach the shore of liberation. And the Ganga is the water of life. A river runs through every Indian. The river of Hindusim is different from Hindutva and its political urgency. It is a mystic flow of liberation that celebrates the beauty of the Vedas and the Upanishads, which contain the essence of man. It does not distinguish between new faiths and the Original Faith, since it knows there is only Onethe faith that salutes the blue god, who presides in fierce meditation over the Himalayas and from whose matted locks surges Indias most sacred river. The Ganga defines our history and mythology. She is the merciful receiver of all sins. She is the source and end of all prayers. On her banks both life and death find meaning. She is the janeu of India, the thread that knits life and death. sa eva kushalo janah pranamatiha bhagirathim sa eva tapasam nidhirjapati janhavim adarat sa eva purushottamah smarati sadhu mandakini sa eva vijayi prabhuh surataranginim sevate (It benefits one who offers obeisances to the Ganga. He is a great ascetic, one who faithfully chants her names. By meditating on her one becomes the best of all people. The person who serves the Mandakini (Ganga) is always victorious, and is considered the master of everyone.) The Ganga is everything to everyone. The mother of rivers. Her water is regarded as amrit, the nectar of the gods. Its power subsumes other beliefs. History records that Emperor Akbar was never seen without Ganga jal. The sailors of the East India Company only drank Ganga water on their three-month return journey to England, because it was always sweet and fresh. And the Ganga also offers salvation after death. However, the Ganga herself is dying. The World Wildlife Foundation has marked the Ganga as one of the most endangered rivers in the world. The Mahakumbh, one of Indias holiest of festivals, is held on the banks of the Ganga (and the Yamuna) in Allahabad, where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims come to wash their sins away. In May 2016, they walked bewildered across the dry river bed, searching for her embrace. The floods came three months later, affecting four million people and displacing 6.5 lakh from their homes. The Gangas aquatic life is endangered by reckless pollution that pours industrial poison into her. The balloning population of the cities along her banks disgorges their excreta into heronce riverside cities were divine destinations. Since 1985, six billion rupees have been wasted on the Ganga Action Plan. Her sisters are dying, too. Jaggi Vasudev Sadhguru estimates that 25 per cent of India is becoming a desert. In 15 years, water supply will be reduced by half. Last year, most of the Godavari was dry. The waterflow of the Kaveri is down by 60 per cent. The Krishna and Narmada have lost around 60 per cent. Ancient belief says mornings are blessed by chanting the Gayatri Mantra half immersed in a river, paying obeisance to life-giving sun. In a few decades, the waters of our dying rivers will be so polluted to bathe or drink from. The mythological arteries of Indias eternal faith will become history. And the soul of Hinduism will run dry forever. Ravi Shankar ravi@newindianexpress.com
Prabhu Chawla By
The paradox of politics is that leaders make history with politically incorrect high-profile actions to assume power. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi is the known Houdini of the political stage; vanishing with inexplicable regularity from self-created scenarios charged with the rhetoric of revolt, but ending with a whimper. Is he really a reluctant politico on the prowl, or an unfortunate hostage to public inconsistency? Famous for his frequent disappearing acts to secret locations across the globe, he has grabbed prime time news hour and front-page space with a well-publicised trip to claim intellectual space in the West.
His aides, however, hope his past preference for shoot-and-scoot activism will now give way to some sustained activity. Last week, he chose the USA as the launch base for his latest innings of political engagement. His speaking gigs over there grabbed attention at home when he admitted to home truths, owning up to the cardinal mistakes of his party and communicating a cohesive critique of the Narendra Modi government.
The Congress has now prepared a lengthy calendar of meetings in both India and abroad to re-launch their leader as an effective alternative to Indias indomitably popular Prime Minister. According to published reports and party scuttlebutt, Rahul is expected to visit Japan, China and a few East Asian counties to present his Idea of India vs Modis. He is also expected to crisscross India, addressing meetings of students, farmers and party workers and hold interactions with various groups of opinion-makers.
Rahul has done similar exercises in the past. He has eaten humble fare at a Dalits home and spent the night alfresco, braving mosquitoes on a cheap string-cot. In April, he appeared at AIIMS, Delhi, to show support and sympathy to a professor on hunger strike against corruption and the tawdry stare of institutional infrastructure.
This was before his trip to Hyderabad to join the protest against the suicide of a Dalit student. He was also conspicuous by his presence at the JNU to defend freedom of expression. He dramatically tore up an amendment proposed by his party to prevent convicted politicians from losing their seats in the legislature. Though he participates little in parliamentary debates, Rahul occasionally made the Treasury benches uncomfortable with Kalawati-type remarks.
But even after almost 13 years of active public life, Rahul is yet to establish himself as a leader who is steady in his approach to practical politics. Consistency is not one of his virtues. Surrounded by obscure semi-political advisors and hangers-on, the janta perceives him as a person who is incapable of putting an advance plan in place; yet is hasty to cash in on any new idea, which can provide him visibility for the moment.
However, this time Rahuls US visit was different. For the first time, his advisors had planned a well-structured agenda. He was able to connect with the right sort of people at carefully-chosen venues, thanks to the involvement of political colleagues such as Sam Pitroda, Shashi Tharoor and Milind Deora, who are plugged into the American mind-set and the complexities of the Indian Diaspora. Pitroda put the trip in its correct political perspective by asserting that the visit was planned as the start of a new conversation by the party with the objective of re-positioning Rahul, who has been widely misunderstood and wrongly defined by the monolithic BJP machine.
Fully aware of Rahuls limitations and resources, they avoided duplicating the Modi model of dialogue. Rahuls itinerary was meticulously planned to include interacts with all sections of American society, including students, business leaders, NRI entrepreneurs, members of liberal think tanks and politicians from both the Republican and Democratic parties.
He also met the editorial board of The Washington Post for an off-the-record interaction. Whether this journey will raise his vacillating status to a respected, credible and acceptable leader will depend on the nature and content of his political actions in the next 18 months. But his revelations and confessions on various issues in America provide enough ground to assess the idea and colour of his politics. Dissecting his musings:
Dynasty
View: It is a problem in all political parties in India. Most of the country runs like this, so dont go after me, Akhilesh Yadav a dynast, Mr Stalin a dynast, Mr (Prem Kumar) Dhumals son a dynast, so dont just go after me... Even Mr Abhishek Bachchan is a dynast, also Mr Ambani, thats what happens in India.
Counterview: Political dynasts cannot be compared to those in other sectors. Although about 20 families control over 70 per cent of seats in the Parliament, legislatures and local bodies, none of them have national stature. The perception that Rahul has acquired the top perch in the Congress superstructure has much to do with pedigree over merit. He has not proved to be a power winner for the party so far. Perhaps, some upcoming state polls and the 2019 Lok Sabha election could be Rahuls last chance to prove himself and answer the question whether he has an agenda after all.
Communication
View: Mr Modi has certain skills, he is a very good communicator, hes much better than me. He knows how to give a message to three-four different groups in a crowd, so his messaging ability is very effective and subtle.
Counterview: Rahul is yet to learn the art of communicating with the masses and his own party. He starts off well, but loses the plot soon, leaving the message in the middle. He is yet to acquire the skill of making headlines with meaningful one-liners and catch linesa Modi forte.
Connectivity
View: What I sense is he (Modi) doesn't converse with people he works with. Even Members of Parliament and BJP tell me (that). The BJP gives a top-down vision. We construct a bottom-up vision.
Counterview: Not correct. In the Congress, too, workers wait for the signal from the Gandhis to deal with any situation. The excessive centralisation of power plagues the Congress as much as it does the BJP.
Arrogance
View: Around 2012, arrogance crept into the Congress and we stopped having conversations with people.
Counterview: This still holds true. Many Congress leaders are even more arrogant than some self-important BJP ministers. If Modi and Amit Shah are inaccessible to ministers and cadres, so are Sonia Gandhi and Rahul.
Age may be on Rahuls side, but time certainly isnt. This time, however, he has spoken his mind in a more cohesive manner. But he has to walk the talk. Politics is no more a game, which can be won on the basis of golden past and the glorious sheen of dynasty. Todays politics has a complex geometry. Rahul must fashion formidable formations, which can connect the masses with his idea of India, if he has any. Choreographed conclaves and rehearsed speeches can win claps, but not votes.
Prabhu Chawla
prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com
Follow him on Twitter @PrabhuChawla
The paradox of politics is that leaders make history with politically incorrect high-profile actions to assume power. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi is the known Houdini of the political stage; vanishing with inexplicable regularity from self-created scenarios charged with the rhetoric of revolt, but ending with a whimper. Is he really a reluctant politico on the prowl, or an unfortunate hostage to public inconsistency? Famous for his frequent disappearing acts to secret locations across the globe, he has grabbed prime time news hour and front-page space with a well-publicised trip to claim intellectual space in the West. His aides, however, hope his past preference for shoot-and-scoot activism will now give way to some sustained activity. Last week, he chose the USA as the launch base for his latest innings of political engagement. His speaking gigs over there grabbed attention at home when he admitted to home truths, owning up to the cardinal mistakes of his party and communicating a cohesive critique of the Narendra Modi government. The Congress has now prepared a lengthy calendar of meetings in both India and abroad to re-launch their leader as an effective alternative to Indias indomitably popular Prime Minister. According to published reports and party scuttlebutt, Rahul is expected to visit Japan, China and a few East Asian counties to present his Idea of India vs Modis. He is also expected to crisscross India, addressing meetings of students, farmers and party workers and hold interactions with various groups of opinion-makers. Rahul has done similar exercises in the past. He has eaten humble fare at a Dalits home and spent the night alfresco, braving mosquitoes on a cheap string-cot. In April, he appeared at AIIMS, Delhi, to show support and sympathy to a professor on hunger strike against corruption and the tawdry stare of institutional infrastructure. This was before his trip to Hyderabad to join the protest against the suicide of a Dalit student. He was also conspicuous by his presence at the JNU to defend freedom of expression. He dramatically tore up an amendment proposed by his party to prevent convicted politicians from losing their seats in the legislature. Though he participates little in parliamentary debates, Rahul occasionally made the Treasury benches uncomfortable with Kalawati-type remarks. But even after almost 13 years of active public life, Rahul is yet to establish himself as a leader who is steady in his approach to practical politics. Consistency is not one of his virtues. Surrounded by obscure semi-political advisors and hangers-on, the janta perceives him as a person who is incapable of putting an advance plan in place; yet is hasty to cash in on any new idea, which can provide him visibility for the moment. However, this time Rahuls US visit was different. For the first time, his advisors had planned a well-structured agenda. He was able to connect with the right sort of people at carefully-chosen venues, thanks to the involvement of political colleagues such as Sam Pitroda, Shashi Tharoor and Milind Deora, who are plugged into the American mind-set and the complexities of the Indian Diaspora. Pitroda put the trip in its correct political perspective by asserting that the visit was planned as the start of a new conversation by the party with the objective of re-positioning Rahul, who has been widely misunderstood and wrongly defined by the monolithic BJP machine. Fully aware of Rahuls limitations and resources, they avoided duplicating the Modi model of dialogue. Rahuls itinerary was meticulously planned to include interacts with all sections of American society, including students, business leaders, NRI entrepreneurs, members of liberal think tanks and politicians from both the Republican and Democratic parties. He also met the editorial board of The Washington Post for an off-the-record interaction. Whether this journey will raise his vacillating status to a respected, credible and acceptable leader will depend on the nature and content of his political actions in the next 18 months. But his revelations and confessions on various issues in America provide enough ground to assess the idea and colour of his politics. Dissecting his musings: Dynasty View: It is a problem in all political parties in India. Most of the country runs like this, so dont go after me, Akhilesh Yadav a dynast, Mr Stalin a dynast, Mr (Prem Kumar) Dhumals son a dynast, so dont just go after me... Even Mr Abhishek Bachchan is a dynast, also Mr Ambani, thats what happens in India. Counterview: Political dynasts cannot be compared to those in other sectors. Although about 20 families control over 70 per cent of seats in the Parliament, legislatures and local bodies, none of them have national stature. The perception that Rahul has acquired the top perch in the Congress superstructure has much to do with pedigree over merit. He has not proved to be a power winner for the party so far. Perhaps, some upcoming state polls and the 2019 Lok Sabha election could be Rahuls last chance to prove himself and answer the question whether he has an agenda after all. Communication View: Mr Modi has certain skills, he is a very good communicator, hes much better than me. He knows how to give a message to three-four different groups in a crowd, so his messaging ability is very effective and subtle. Counterview: Rahul is yet to learn the art of communicating with the masses and his own party. He starts off well, but loses the plot soon, leaving the message in the middle. He is yet to acquire the skill of making headlines with meaningful one-liners and catch linesa Modi forte. Connectivity View: What I sense is he (Modi) doesn't converse with people he works with. Even Members of Parliament and BJP tell me (that). The BJP gives a top-down vision. We construct a bottom-up vision. Counterview: Not correct. In the Congress, too, workers wait for the signal from the Gandhis to deal with any situation. The excessive centralisation of power plagues the Congress as much as it does the BJP. Arrogance View: Around 2012, arrogance crept into the Congress and we stopped having conversations with people. Counterview: This still holds true. Many Congress leaders are even more arrogant than some self-important BJP ministers. If Modi and Amit Shah are inaccessible to ministers and cadres, so are Sonia Gandhi and Rahul. Age may be on Rahuls side, but time certainly isnt. This time, however, he has spoken his mind in a more cohesive manner. But he has to walk the talk. Politics is no more a game, which can be won on the basis of golden past and the glorious sheen of dynasty. Todays politics has a complex geometry. Rahul must fashion formidable formations, which can connect the masses with his idea of India, if he has any. Choreographed conclaves and rehearsed speeches can win claps, but not votes. Prabhu Chawla prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com Follow him on Twitter @PrabhuChawla
The Dane County Immigration Coalition received a $100,000 grant Sept. 19 from the Vera Institute of Justice to help defend immigrants in danger of deportation.
Ramkrishna Badseshi By
Express News Service
KALABURAGI: A Class 8 girl from Udagi village of Sedam taluk adopted a novel approach to coax her parents to build a toilet in their house. When nothing else failed to move her parents, this spunky girl resorted to a two-day fast to get the job done.
The matter came to light when Chief Executive Officer of Kalaburagi ZP Hepsiba Rani Korlpati, who is also in-charge Commissioner of Public Instruction of Kalaburagi, held a radio phone-in programme for government schools on Sanitation in Kalaburagi on September 22. In all, she received 11 phone calls.
In the programme, Puja Neelakanth of Government Primary School of Udagi village, told Korlapati that she had been on a fast since Thursday to pressure her parents to construct a toilet in their house and would continue the fast till her demand was met. Moved by this, Korlapati requested the girl to give up her fast and instead, she would start the fast for two days so that the toilet is built in Pujas house. Korlapati spoke to Pujas parents and convinced them to build the toilet. But even though her parents agreed to her demand, Puja said she would continue her fast till the construction was started.
Puja told Express that she ended her fast on Friday evening after the pit was dug for the construction of the toilet. Panchayat Development Officer of Udagi Omkar rushed to Sedam on Saturday to bring the construction material for the toilet. The girl said she was inspired by Mallamma, Class 10 student, of Danapur village of Koppal district who staged a hunger strike to force her parents to construct a toilet in their house. Pujas father Neelakanth is an auto driver. She said: Though I requested my parents many times to construct a toilet, they ignored it. Fasting was the only way.
KALABURAGI: A Class 8 girl from Udagi village of Sedam taluk adopted a novel approach to coax her parents to build a toilet in their house. When nothing else failed to move her parents, this spunky girl resorted to a two-day fast to get the job done. The matter came to light when Chief Executive Officer of Kalaburagi ZP Hepsiba Rani Korlpati, who is also in-charge Commissioner of Public Instruction of Kalaburagi, held a radio phone-in programme for government schools on Sanitation in Kalaburagi on September 22. In all, she received 11 phone calls. In the programme, Puja Neelakanth of Government Primary School of Udagi village, told Korlapati that she had been on a fast since Thursday to pressure her parents to construct a toilet in their house and would continue the fast till her demand was met. Moved by this, Korlapati requested the girl to give up her fast and instead, she would start the fast for two days so that the toilet is built in Pujas house. Korlapati spoke to Pujas parents and convinced them to build the toilet. But even though her parents agreed to her demand, Puja said she would continue her fast till the construction was started. Puja told Express that she ended her fast on Friday evening after the pit was dug for the construction of the toilet. Panchayat Development Officer of Udagi Omkar rushed to Sedam on Saturday to bring the construction material for the toilet. The girl said she was inspired by Mallamma, Class 10 student, of Danapur village of Koppal district who staged a hunger strike to force her parents to construct a toilet in their house. Pujas father Neelakanth is an auto driver. She said: Though I requested my parents many times to construct a toilet, they ignored it. Fasting was the only way.
By Express News Service
UDUPI: After 14 torturous months, Jacintha Mendonca, a home nurse from Karkala taluk in Udupi district, who was entrapped in a human trafficking racket run out of Mumbai and sent as a slave to Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, is finally back home with her family. The health of the 42-year-old woman, a mother of three, was declared stable after a medical check-up conducted at a private hospital in Udupi on Saturday morning.
Jacintas troubles started after her husband died last year and she became the sole bread winner of the family. In order to take care of her three children and to provide for their education, she was in search of employment. She happened to notice an advertisement in a local newspaper wherein an Indian family in Qatar needed a home nurse. She contacted a Mumbai-based recruitment agency headed by one Shabaz Khan, who assured her that she would be paid `25,000 per month. He also assured her that he would arrange the passport and visa through his representative in Mangaluru.
Following this, Jacinta travelled to Mumbai and was housed somewhere in Dongri for a few days. She was then taken to Dubai via Goa and Delhi on June 10, 2016 along with two other women. Thereafter, she lost track as to where she was being taken to. To her horror, only on landing at the airport did she discover that she had been taken to Yanbu, Saudi Arabia instead of Qatar.
Jacinta (third from right) with her daughters (left) and Human Rights Protection
Foundation team, which played a pivotal role in rescuing her, in Udupi on Saturday
It was only after the Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF) of Udupi contacted Roshan Rodrigues, the head of the NRI Forum in Saudi Arabia, and his team in April this year that Jacinta was finally rescued and reunited with her family.
Hellish experience
Jacinta was made to work day in and day out in the three mansions belonging to the employers mother, three wives and their children. She was made to do all the odd jobs apart from household chores and was only allowed to eat the leftover food. Her toil of over 16 hours a day and starvation took a severe toll on her health. The employer showed no mercy when she pleaded with him that she was ill and could not work.
Under no circumstances will I send you back to India before your contract ends, the employer threatened her. She was oblivious of any contract made and the terms and conditions of the contract.
Jacinta attempted to flee from the house and return to India on November 28, 2016. But her luck ran out when a neighbour, on the pretext of directing her to the Indian embassy, took her to the police station. The police, in turn, made enquiries and took her back to the same employer. That night, the men of the house beat her black and blue and slammed her head against a wall until she lost consciousness.
HRPF steps in
With the help of an Indian driver, Jacinta managed to contact her children back home. A priest directed Velita, Jacintas daughter, to approach Human Rights Protection Foundation, Udupi. They tracked the agent who sent her to Saudi Arabia, which led the family and the foundation to where Jacinta was.
Where did the money go?
Human Rights Protection Foundation then tracked the employer (Abdul Almuttairi). On contacting him, he said Jacinta was contracted to work for two years. He claimed to have paid the Indian agent 24,000 Saudi Riyals (about `5 lakh. He said he would send her back if this money was returned. Jacinthas family had not received any money. The foundation then lodged a complaint.
More women can be rescued
There have been several reports of women from the coastal region being victimised by human traffickers of Mumbai. Human Rights Protection Foundation president Ravindranath Shanbhag said after he started working on Jacintas case, he came to know that there are 40 more women from coastal Karnataka whose whereabouts are untraceable after they went abroad.
UDUPI: After 14 torturous months, Jacintha Mendonca, a home nurse from Karkala taluk in Udupi district, who was entrapped in a human trafficking racket run out of Mumbai and sent as a slave to Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, is finally back home with her family. The health of the 42-year-old woman, a mother of three, was declared stable after a medical check-up conducted at a private hospital in Udupi on Saturday morning. Jacintas troubles started after her husband died last year and she became the sole bread winner of the family. In order to take care of her three children and to provide for their education, she was in search of employment. She happened to notice an advertisement in a local newspaper wherein an Indian family in Qatar needed a home nurse. She contacted a Mumbai-based recruitment agency headed by one Shabaz Khan, who assured her that she would be paid `25,000 per month. He also assured her that he would arrange the passport and visa through his representative in Mangaluru. Following this, Jacinta travelled to Mumbai and was housed somewhere in Dongri for a few days. She was then taken to Dubai via Goa and Delhi on June 10, 2016 along with two other women. Thereafter, she lost track as to where she was being taken to. To her horror, only on landing at the airport did she discover that she had been taken to Yanbu, Saudi Arabia instead of Qatar. Jacinta (third from right) with her daughters (left) and Human Rights Protection Foundation team, which played a pivotal role in rescuing her, in Udupi on SaturdayIt was only after the Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF) of Udupi contacted Roshan Rodrigues, the head of the NRI Forum in Saudi Arabia, and his team in April this year that Jacinta was finally rescued and reunited with her family. Hellish experience Jacinta was made to work day in and day out in the three mansions belonging to the employers mother, three wives and their children. She was made to do all the odd jobs apart from household chores and was only allowed to eat the leftover food. Her toil of over 16 hours a day and starvation took a severe toll on her health. The employer showed no mercy when she pleaded with him that she was ill and could not work. Under no circumstances will I send you back to India before your contract ends, the employer threatened her. She was oblivious of any contract made and the terms and conditions of the contract. Jacinta attempted to flee from the house and return to India on November 28, 2016. But her luck ran out when a neighbour, on the pretext of directing her to the Indian embassy, took her to the police station. The police, in turn, made enquiries and took her back to the same employer. That night, the men of the house beat her black and blue and slammed her head against a wall until she lost consciousness. HRPF steps in With the help of an Indian driver, Jacinta managed to contact her children back home. A priest directed Velita, Jacintas daughter, to approach Human Rights Protection Foundation, Udupi. They tracked the agent who sent her to Saudi Arabia, which led the family and the foundation to where Jacinta was. Where did the money go? Human Rights Protection Foundation then tracked the employer (Abdul Almuttairi). On contacting him, he said Jacinta was contracted to work for two years. He claimed to have paid the Indian agent 24,000 Saudi Riyals (about `5 lakh. He said he would send her back if this money was returned. Jacinthas family had not received any money. The foundation then lodged a complaint. More women can be rescued There have been several reports of women from the coastal region being victimised by human traffickers of Mumbai. Human Rights Protection Foundation president Ravindranath Shanbhag said after he started working on Jacintas case, he came to know that there are 40 more women from coastal Karnataka whose whereabouts are untraceable after they went abroad.
By Express News Service
KOZHIKODE: The international conference on The Role of Women in Making a Humane Society, which ran into trouble after the University of Calicut denied permission to hold it on the university campus, was held in the city on Saturday. Inaugurating the conference organised by the Institute of Objective Studies in association with the National Womens Front, former Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari said Islam respects the individuality of women in society. He said a study conducted by the UN Women, a wing of the United Nations which works for gender equality and women empowerment, has revealed the plight of women across the world.
He said the unethical human and social practices marginalising women should change. Women should be made an equal partner in creating a humane society. The conscious or subconscious perception of many sections of the society is a girl child is a burden or even a misfortune. This should change, he said. The inaugural session of the two-day conference was attended by Institute of Objective Studies chairman M Manzoor Alam.
On Friday the University of Calicut had decided to withdraw from the conference which was jointly organised by the New Delhi-based Institute of Objective Studies, Islamic Chair of the University of Calicut and National Womens Front. Delegates and scholars from South Africa, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia attended the conference. A B Moideen Kutty, Head of Department of Arabic, said the University had decided to stay away from the programme considering the involvement of certain organisations in the conduct of the conference.
KOZHIKODE: The international conference on The Role of Women in Making a Humane Society, which ran into trouble after the University of Calicut denied permission to hold it on the university campus, was held in the city on Saturday. Inaugurating the conference organised by the Institute of Objective Studies in association with the National Womens Front, former Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari said Islam respects the individuality of women in society. He said a study conducted by the UN Women, a wing of the United Nations which works for gender equality and women empowerment, has revealed the plight of women across the world. He said the unethical human and social practices marginalising women should change. Women should be made an equal partner in creating a humane society. The conscious or subconscious perception of many sections of the society is a girl child is a burden or even a misfortune. This should change, he said. The inaugural session of the two-day conference was attended by Institute of Objective Studies chairman M Manzoor Alam. On Friday the University of Calicut had decided to withdraw from the conference which was jointly organised by the New Delhi-based Institute of Objective Studies, Islamic Chair of the University of Calicut and National Womens Front. Delegates and scholars from South Africa, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia attended the conference. A B Moideen Kutty, Head of Department of Arabic, said the University had decided to stay away from the programme considering the involvement of certain organisations in the conduct of the conference.
By Express News Service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah and member of UAE Supreme Council Sheikh Sultan Bin Muhammed Al Qasimi will arrive here on Sunday for a four-day visit to the state.
Qasimi, who will land in Thiruvananthapuram airport at 3.15 pm on Sunday, will call on Governor P Sathasivam at the Raj Bhavan at 10.55 am on Monday. Later, he will interact with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other ministers at the Raj Bhavan.
The Sharjah ruler will then attend a luncheon hosted by the Governor at 12.45 pm. At 6.30 pm, Qasimi will attend a cultural programme at Leela Raviz Hotel, Kovalam, and later attend a dinner hosted by the Chief Minister.On Tuesday, Qasimi will meet the Chief Minister at the Cliff House at 11 am.
He will then attend the convocation programme of the Calicut University at 11.15 pm. He will also attend a luncheon hosted by Education Minister C Raveendranath at Leela Raviz Hotel, Kovalam, at 1 pm.Qasimi will deliver a lecture on the topic Sultan and Historical Documents at Taj Vivanata in Vazhuthacaud at 5 pm and later address a press conference.The Sharjah ruler will attend various functions in Kochi on Wednesday before his departure on Thursday.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah and member of UAE Supreme Council Sheikh Sultan Bin Muhammed Al Qasimi will arrive here on Sunday for a four-day visit to the state. Qasimi, who will land in Thiruvananthapuram airport at 3.15 pm on Sunday, will call on Governor P Sathasivam at the Raj Bhavan at 10.55 am on Monday. Later, he will interact with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other ministers at the Raj Bhavan. The Sharjah ruler will then attend a luncheon hosted by the Governor at 12.45 pm. At 6.30 pm, Qasimi will attend a cultural programme at Leela Raviz Hotel, Kovalam, and later attend a dinner hosted by the Chief Minister.On Tuesday, Qasimi will meet the Chief Minister at the Cliff House at 11 am. He will then attend the convocation programme of the Calicut University at 11.15 pm. He will also attend a luncheon hosted by Education Minister C Raveendranath at Leela Raviz Hotel, Kovalam, at 1 pm.Qasimi will deliver a lecture on the topic Sultan and Historical Documents at Taj Vivanata in Vazhuthacaud at 5 pm and later address a press conference.The Sharjah ruler will attend various functions in Kochi on Wednesday before his departure on Thursday.
Yatish Yadav By
NEW DELHI: A clandestine operation by a crack team of the Rajasthan Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir earlier this week has unravelled what a deep throat said is the largest gunrunning gang in the history of independent India. A top source confirmed that Kupwara alone has issued 50,000 suspicious arms licences in the last five years, a peculiar figure for any licencing authority in the country.
The hunt unveiled a plethora of information about how deeply the kingpins had penetrated all 22 districts of the strife-ridden state, as well as clues about where the cartel has been getting illegal sophisticated weapons since 2008. The ATS team has gathered reliable inputs that all the districts of the state might have issued a similar number of licences, which means the number of licences and arms under the scanner could go up to 11 lakh.
The initial probe in Kupwara till late Friday night revealed that the licencing office had no detailed records of applicants and processing details. Majority of the licences were issued to outsiders on the basis of fabricated documents. Investigators were shocked to learn that 24 legitimate gun dealers were operating in the Jammu district instead of two that is sufficient to cater to the local demand. Many sophisticated weapons have been sold to ghost army men by forging military documents.
The first phase of Operation Zubaida (high hills) covers four statesJammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The investigators have seized around a thousand fake arms licences and 450 illegal weapons. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Till the time of filing this report, the operation was being carried out at other locations to neutralise the highly profitable criminal syndicate.
This is just the trailer, says a deep throat. For each licence and weapon like a revolver, the network was charging Rs 12 lakh. For pistols, the price was more. The number of fake licences and guns could go up to several thousands as the gunrunners were operating for the last eight years. We have received reliable inputs about a few more modules of the same network in other states. It is very clear that the gang was distributing arms licences and guns like vegetables, he revealed.
Top sources said the first tip-off came in April and technical surveillance was mounted in early May. The electronic input was verified through human sources before Operation Zubaida was launched with six-handpicked operatives of the ATS. All the six seasoned officers were placed under the command of a well-known terrorist-hunter and senior IPS officer. They started working in silos, and inputs were shared with each other only on a need-to-know basis. Operation Zubaidas aim was to tack the entire supply chainfrom manufacturing fake licences to the gun shops that sold weapons ultimately to the buyers.
The Gang
The first is Zuber Mohammed, whose grandfather Wali Mohammed used to run a legitimate gun shop in Rajasthan till 2007 when the licence expired and it was not renewed. Since then, Zuber was acting as a showroom for the gun-running cartel. The second player, Vishal, a resident of Abohar in Punjab, was working as a transporter. The third and key cog of the syndicate is Rahul, a Jammu native, who was acting as a manufacturing unit for fake licences. To acquire weapons in bulk, the three had allegedly lured a legitimate gun shop owner in Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) to meet the demand and keep the supply chain up and running.
The supplier in Dewas, codenamed Ajmal, is under the scanner for two reasons. First, he is a close relative of Zuber aka showroom; second, most of the guns procured on the basis of fake licences were purchased from his shop. The hunters are going through Ajmals records and in the second phase, they will examine the records of Jammus gun dealers.
Sources said the number is so huge that the investigation may take over a year to ascertain the number of weapons that have been supplied on the basis of fake licences.
Modus Operandi
Besides the three key players, five to six others were hired on the basis of requirement. They had adopted six to seven modus operandi. The most startling one was making fake licences in the name of Army men that were sold to civilians to purchase prohibited weapons, pistols, revolvers and rifles. The cartel manufactured fake residence certificates of J&K.
They also manipulated names and photographs of local residences and purchased arms in other states. Since it was supplied to other states and requires to be reported to the respective licencing authority, we have found the process was not followed even in a single case. The entire system was flouted and the possibility of government employees connivance cannot be ruled out, sources added.
Some individuals, who were interrogated in Srinagar earlier this week, provided valuable information on how the cartel was using fake seals on a large scale. A deep throat confirmed they have seized seven types of seals that were used by the syndicate. These include fake seals of District Collector Kupwara, Home Department of Jammu and Kashmir, etc.
In some cases the addresses on the fake licences are incomplete but they were able to procure weapons. For example, on one such licence, the address is only Rajbagh, Srinagar. It doesnt have the house number or exact locality, and subsequently, no verification was done by the authorities.
In Kupwara, a majority of the arms licenses have been issued to army men, who, ATS suspects, are merely ghosts. The ATS team has asked the authorities in Srinagar and Jammu to preserve all the records along with files from other districts.
Scrutiny of records of just two districtsJammu and Srinagarwould take at least eight to 10 days. We have also asked for the record from Kathua, sources confirmed.
The spies and hunters on Friday picked up Sunil Sharma, a resident of Udhampur. Sharma is linked to Rahul, the manufacturing unit, and his primary task was to facilitate forged documents in bulk. Sharma reportedly revealed that he was merely a courier but he very well knew the working of illegal gun syndicate.
The Buyers
In majority of the cases, the fake licences and weapons were sold to the nouveau riche, big hoteliers and property dealers. A source quoting the interrogation of gunrunners said weapons were also sold to some most wanted criminals who are otherwise not entitled to a licenced gun.
In a few cases, three weapons were purchased on a single licence by a big hotelier. We have questioned a variety of people, including mall owners, property dealers and a liquor baron. Many of them had a feeling of virtual insecurity, and some rich people wanted weapons just for fun, he said, adding that 20-25 people have been questioned in about a dozen simultaneous operations.
Some businessmen and professionals from Delhi have also acquired weapons through the syndicate. Senior officials confirmed that the Delhi file will be probed in the next stage sometime in October and the people named by the manufacturing unit aka Rahul will be questioned.
What Next?
The deep throat revealed that transporter aka Vishal from Punjab was also running his showroom on the side. This could be the second layer of the cartel which, he said, would require further probe to unravel the entire supply chaincontacts, facilitators, traffickers and buyers.
So far no terror angle has come out in the investigation but we are not completely ruling it out because the source of gunrunning syndicate is Jammu and Kashmir and some private individuals are part of our ongoing analysis. If we compare gunrunning rackets of Bihar and Nepal with this module, Operation Zubaida cracked the largest criminal syndicate, he said.
Cocked And Loaded
For each licence and weapon like a revolver, the network was charging `12 lakh. For pistols, the price was more. The number of fake licences and guns could go up to several thousands as the gunrunners were operating for the last eight years.
NEW DELHI: A clandestine operation by a crack team of the Rajasthan Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir earlier this week has unravelled what a deep throat said is the largest gunrunning gang in the history of independent India. A top source confirmed that Kupwara alone has issued 50,000 suspicious arms licences in the last five years, a peculiar figure for any licencing authority in the country. The hunt unveiled a plethora of information about how deeply the kingpins had penetrated all 22 districts of the strife-ridden state, as well as clues about where the cartel has been getting illegal sophisticated weapons since 2008. The ATS team has gathered reliable inputs that all the districts of the state might have issued a similar number of licences, which means the number of licences and arms under the scanner could go up to 11 lakh. The initial probe in Kupwara till late Friday night revealed that the licencing office had no detailed records of applicants and processing details. Majority of the licences were issued to outsiders on the basis of fabricated documents. Investigators were shocked to learn that 24 legitimate gun dealers were operating in the Jammu district instead of two that is sufficient to cater to the local demand. Many sophisticated weapons have been sold to ghost army men by forging military documents. The first phase of Operation Zubaida (high hills) covers four statesJammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The investigators have seized around a thousand fake arms licences and 450 illegal weapons. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Till the time of filing this report, the operation was being carried out at other locations to neutralise the highly profitable criminal syndicate. This is just the trailer, says a deep throat. For each licence and weapon like a revolver, the network was charging Rs 12 lakh. For pistols, the price was more. The number of fake licences and guns could go up to several thousands as the gunrunners were operating for the last eight years. We have received reliable inputs about a few more modules of the same network in other states. It is very clear that the gang was distributing arms licences and guns like vegetables, he revealed. Top sources said the first tip-off came in April and technical surveillance was mounted in early May. The electronic input was verified through human sources before Operation Zubaida was launched with six-handpicked operatives of the ATS. All the six seasoned officers were placed under the command of a well-known terrorist-hunter and senior IPS officer. They started working in silos, and inputs were shared with each other only on a need-to-know basis. Operation Zubaidas aim was to tack the entire supply chainfrom manufacturing fake licences to the gun shops that sold weapons ultimately to the buyers. The Gang The first is Zuber Mohammed, whose grandfather Wali Mohammed used to run a legitimate gun shop in Rajasthan till 2007 when the licence expired and it was not renewed. Since then, Zuber was acting as a showroom for the gun-running cartel. The second player, Vishal, a resident of Abohar in Punjab, was working as a transporter. The third and key cog of the syndicate is Rahul, a Jammu native, who was acting as a manufacturing unit for fake licences. To acquire weapons in bulk, the three had allegedly lured a legitimate gun shop owner in Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) to meet the demand and keep the supply chain up and running. The supplier in Dewas, codenamed Ajmal, is under the scanner for two reasons. First, he is a close relative of Zuber aka showroom; second, most of the guns procured on the basis of fake licences were purchased from his shop. The hunters are going through Ajmals records and in the second phase, they will examine the records of Jammus gun dealers. Sources said the number is so huge that the investigation may take over a year to ascertain the number of weapons that have been supplied on the basis of fake licences. Modus Operandi Besides the three key players, five to six others were hired on the basis of requirement. They had adopted six to seven modus operandi. The most startling one was making fake licences in the name of Army men that were sold to civilians to purchase prohibited weapons, pistols, revolvers and rifles. The cartel manufactured fake residence certificates of J&K. They also manipulated names and photographs of local residences and purchased arms in other states. Since it was supplied to other states and requires to be reported to the respective licencing authority, we have found the process was not followed even in a single case. The entire system was flouted and the possibility of government employees connivance cannot be ruled out, sources added. Some individuals, who were interrogated in Srinagar earlier this week, provided valuable information on how the cartel was using fake seals on a large scale. A deep throat confirmed they have seized seven types of seals that were used by the syndicate. These include fake seals of District Collector Kupwara, Home Department of Jammu and Kashmir, etc. In some cases the addresses on the fake licences are incomplete but they were able to procure weapons. For example, on one such licence, the address is only Rajbagh, Srinagar. It doesnt have the house number or exact locality, and subsequently, no verification was done by the authorities. In Kupwara, a majority of the arms licenses have been issued to army men, who, ATS suspects, are merely ghosts. The ATS team has asked the authorities in Srinagar and Jammu to preserve all the records along with files from other districts. Scrutiny of records of just two districtsJammu and Srinagarwould take at least eight to 10 days. We have also asked for the record from Kathua, sources confirmed. The spies and hunters on Friday picked up Sunil Sharma, a resident of Udhampur. Sharma is linked to Rahul, the manufacturing unit, and his primary task was to facilitate forged documents in bulk. Sharma reportedly revealed that he was merely a courier but he very well knew the working of illegal gun syndicate. The Buyers In majority of the cases, the fake licences and weapons were sold to the nouveau riche, big hoteliers and property dealers. A source quoting the interrogation of gunrunners said weapons were also sold to some most wanted criminals who are otherwise not entitled to a licenced gun. In a few cases, three weapons were purchased on a single licence by a big hotelier. We have questioned a variety of people, including mall owners, property dealers and a liquor baron. Many of them had a feeling of virtual insecurity, and some rich people wanted weapons just for fun, he said, adding that 20-25 people have been questioned in about a dozen simultaneous operations. Some businessmen and professionals from Delhi have also acquired weapons through the syndicate. Senior officials confirmed that the Delhi file will be probed in the next stage sometime in October and the people named by the manufacturing unit aka Rahul will be questioned. What Next? The deep throat revealed that transporter aka Vishal from Punjab was also running his showroom on the side. This could be the second layer of the cartel which, he said, would require further probe to unravel the entire supply chaincontacts, facilitators, traffickers and buyers. So far no terror angle has come out in the investigation but we are not completely ruling it out because the source of gunrunning syndicate is Jammu and Kashmir and some private individuals are part of our ongoing analysis. If we compare gunrunning rackets of Bihar and Nepal with this module, Operation Zubaida cracked the largest criminal syndicate, he said. Cocked And Loaded For each licence and weapon like a revolver, the network was charging `12 lakh. For pistols, the price was more. The number of fake licences and guns could go up to several thousands as the gunrunners were operating for the last eight years.
Express News Service By
NEW DELHI: Ties between India and neighbouring Nepal was debated on Friday afternoon in a programme organised by B P Chintan Pratisthan Bharat here. Relationship between the two countries is very old. Unlike other countries, it is a relationship of culture, blood ties, water, and of course trade, convener Sandeep Rana said, adding that the old relationship is now limited to ties between Delhi and Kathmandu.Remembering late Prime Minister of Nepal B P Koirala, Rana said, He was not only a leader of Nepal, but he was a role model for India and the world.
Manisha Koirala
Rajya Sabha member Karan Singh said that the new generation will have to come forward to improve the relationship. I dont want to go into the past. The relationship will be strengthened if the youth comes forward and take initiatives, said Singh, adding that India has always helped Nepal at the time of crisis and differences between the two countries should be resolved.
Actress and social activist Manisha Koirala, granddaughter of B P Koirala, said, When (Narendra) Modiji came to Nepal, he said that there is not a single war that India has fought without shedding Gorkha blood. That is a huge statement. It means our bond is very strong, our friendship is very deep. Nepal is going through an existential crisis. And if we consider B P Koirala a visionary leader, probably he was referring to a situation like this.She also talked about the relationship between the late leader and Jayaprakash Narayan. BP had a very good friend in JP. They used to co-operate with each other at the time of struggle, she said.
NEW DELHI: Ties between India and neighbouring Nepal was debated on Friday afternoon in a programme organised by B P Chintan Pratisthan Bharat here. Relationship between the two countries is very old. Unlike other countries, it is a relationship of culture, blood ties, water, and of course trade, convener Sandeep Rana said, adding that the old relationship is now limited to ties between Delhi and Kathmandu.Remembering late Prime Minister of Nepal B P Koirala, Rana said, He was not only a leader of Nepal, but he was a role model for India and the world. Manisha KoiralaRajya Sabha member Karan Singh said that the new generation will have to come forward to improve the relationship. I dont want to go into the past. The relationship will be strengthened if the youth comes forward and take initiatives, said Singh, adding that India has always helped Nepal at the time of crisis and differences between the two countries should be resolved. Actress and social activist Manisha Koirala, granddaughter of B P Koirala, said, When (Narendra) Modiji came to Nepal, he said that there is not a single war that India has fought without shedding Gorkha blood. That is a huge statement. It means our bond is very strong, our friendship is very deep. Nepal is going through an existential crisis. And if we consider B P Koirala a visionary leader, probably he was referring to a situation like this.She also talked about the relationship between the late leader and Jayaprakash Narayan. BP had a very good friend in JP. They used to co-operate with each other at the time of struggle, she said.
Express News Service By
BENGALURU: The Income Tax (I-T) officials, who conducted search operations at the premises of VG Siddhartha, owner of Indias largest coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day, on September 21, are still assessing the documents of his companies which are under the radar amid suspicion of tax evasion.
This was the second major I-T raid in Karnataka after a massive crackdown on high-profile Congress politician and Karnataka Energy Minister D K Shivakumar in recent months. The I-T sleuths searched the properties and homes of Siddhartha in Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru and several places in Karnataka.
VG Siddhartha
The raids were also conducted at the corporate office of Cafe Coffee Day at Vittal Mallya Road in Bengaluru, Siddharthas residence in Sadashivanagar, coffee estates and curing plants in Chikkamagaluru district. His firms were also raided including Way2Wealth, Amalgamated Beans Coffee Curing Works and Serai Luxury Resorts.Sources from I-T department said, Officials are likely to record Siddharthas statements before finishing the raid.Despite being among the top 100 richest people in India (according to Forbes) and the son-in-law of former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna, Siddharatha has always maintained a low-profile.
Even the decision of Krishna to switch his loyalties from the Congress to the BJP was seen as a desperate measure to prevent I-T department from investigating suspected tax evasion. Siddhartha, who made his fortune with multiple businesses, was born to a coffee planter in the scenic Chikkamagaluru district of Karnataka. After completing his post graduation in economics, he worked in a securities trading firm in Mumbai, before starting Way2Wealth Securities Limited. His most popular business venture, Cafe Coffee Day, made him a popular business figure. He also has stake in the IT firm MindTree, new furniture firm called Dark Forest Furniture Company and owns vast tracts of coffee estates throughout the state.
Although the I-T raid on V G Siddhartha made national headlines last week, a conspicuous silence prevailed in the political corridors of Karnataka. While the silence in BJP camp is understandable as the veteran Congress leader joined the party just six months ago, the Congress sees the raid as just a charade by Modi government at the Centre to silence the political critics who have been accusing the Modi government of targeting Congress leaders in poll bound Karnataka. State Congress leaders dismissed the raid on Siddharthas premises as a mere eye wash. KPCC President G Parameshwara said, The raid on Siddharthas premises could be just to counter the criticism.
Flash back
1984: VG Siddhartha launches his own investment and venture capital firm in Bangalore
1996: He opens Cafe Coffee Days first outlet on Bangalores upscale Brigade Road
Mid 90s: Cafe Coffee Day becomes one of the top three exporters of green coffee beans
2011: Cafe Coffee Day figures in the top six beverage companies including Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Tim Hortons, Costa Coffee and McCafe
2017: Immediately after the raids report in September, the Coffee Day Enterprises stock slumps up to 7.5 per cent in morning trade Bangalores upscale Brigade Road
BENGALURU: The Income Tax (I-T) officials, who conducted search operations at the premises of VG Siddhartha, owner of Indias largest coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day, on September 21, are still assessing the documents of his companies which are under the radar amid suspicion of tax evasion. This was the second major I-T raid in Karnataka after a massive crackdown on high-profile Congress politician and Karnataka Energy Minister D K Shivakumar in recent months. The I-T sleuths searched the properties and homes of Siddhartha in Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru and several places in Karnataka. VG SiddharthaThe raids were also conducted at the corporate office of Cafe Coffee Day at Vittal Mallya Road in Bengaluru, Siddharthas residence in Sadashivanagar, coffee estates and curing plants in Chikkamagaluru district. His firms were also raided including Way2Wealth, Amalgamated Beans Coffee Curing Works and Serai Luxury Resorts.Sources from I-T department said, Officials are likely to record Siddharthas statements before finishing the raid.Despite being among the top 100 richest people in India (according to Forbes) and the son-in-law of former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna, Siddharatha has always maintained a low-profile. Even the decision of Krishna to switch his loyalties from the Congress to the BJP was seen as a desperate measure to prevent I-T department from investigating suspected tax evasion. Siddhartha, who made his fortune with multiple businesses, was born to a coffee planter in the scenic Chikkamagaluru district of Karnataka. After completing his post graduation in economics, he worked in a securities trading firm in Mumbai, before starting Way2Wealth Securities Limited. His most popular business venture, Cafe Coffee Day, made him a popular business figure. He also has stake in the IT firm MindTree, new furniture firm called Dark Forest Furniture Company and owns vast tracts of coffee estates throughout the state. Although the I-T raid on V G Siddhartha made national headlines last week, a conspicuous silence prevailed in the political corridors of Karnataka. While the silence in BJP camp is understandable as the veteran Congress leader joined the party just six months ago, the Congress sees the raid as just a charade by Modi government at the Centre to silence the political critics who have been accusing the Modi government of targeting Congress leaders in poll bound Karnataka. State Congress leaders dismissed the raid on Siddharthas premises as a mere eye wash. KPCC President G Parameshwara said, The raid on Siddharthas premises could be just to counter the criticism. Flash back 1984: VG Siddhartha launches his own investment and venture capital firm in Bangalore 1996: He opens Cafe Coffee Days first outlet on Bangalores upscale Brigade Road Mid 90s: Cafe Coffee Day becomes one of the top three exporters of green coffee beans 2011: Cafe Coffee Day figures in the top six beverage companies including Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Tim Hortons, Costa Coffee and McCafe 2017: Immediately after the raids report in September, the Coffee Day Enterprises stock slumps up to 7.5 per cent in morning trade Bangalores upscale Brigade Road
By Associated Press
MEXICO CITY: A new earthquake sowed panic in Mexico City on Saturday, forcing a brief pause in rescue operations to free survivors from the more powerful tremor this week that devastated parts of the capital.
The latest quake, with a magnitude of 6.1, was smaller and further south than the 7.1-magnitude one that struck on Tuesday, killing more than 300 people and toppling 39 buildings in the capital.
As an alarm sounded, hundreds of startled residents raced out into the street, some barefoot, some carrying children.
Trauma from the previous quake was evident.
"Oh God, have mercy," exclaimed Teresa Martinez, 74, who stood in the street with other women, all crying.
Two women died of heart attacks as they tried to leave their homes, according to local media reports. One was in her 80s and the other was 52, according to the website of the daily Reforma.
Authorities said two people also died in the quake in the southern state of Oaxaca, where the epicenter was located.
A bridge collapsed near the town of Juchitan, Oaxaca, already hit hard by a September 7 quake that killed nearly 100 people. Some buildings with previous damage collapsed.
In a jittery Mexico City, the quake made buildings sway, but some didn't notice.
"This time, we didn't feel the ground move... maybe since the last one we're getting used to them," said Pablo Martinez, who had run out of his apartment building with his six-year-old daughter in his arms.
Elevated risk
The new tremor sparked concern it could have caused heavy rubble on top of survivors awaiting rescue in the capital to shift -- posing a danger both to those trapped and to rescuers.
Rescue crews quickly evacuated five sites in the capital where they had been working.
They hesitated for a couple of hours, discussing the added risk, before going back in to look for survivors.
Mexico City's mayor, Miguel Angel Mancera, told Televisa television that around "30 people may yet be able to be found in this search and rescue operation."
So far, 69 people have been pulled alive from the rubble in Mexico City, according to authorities.
"We've been told they have detected areas with life. They've sent in dogs and the dogs have indicated life," Paola Solorio, a 35-year-old who had three relatives trapped, told AFP.
But the smell of decaying bodies wafting out from the buildings four days after the quake presaged grief for some relatives. Rescue workers wore face masks to shield themselves from the odor.
Still, they refused to give up hope.
"We're here to save lives. You have to have faith and believe (the people inside) are in a place with access to air and managed to survive," said Karin Kvitca, a 29-year-old with an Israeli rescue crew.
Race to find survivors
Anxious families have been holding vigils at the flattened sites, urging exhausted emergency workers to keep trying.
"A lot of time has passed. But we won't give up," said the head of the civil protection service, Luis Felipe Puente.
"Time has gotten the best of us. There are structures that are very complicated to access. But we're going to keep fighting for the families," he told Televisa.
Many Mexicans remember "miracle" rescues a week after a 1985 quake that killed more than 10,000 people in the capital, spurring hopes that some might yet be pulled out alive.
Yet psychologists dispatched to the scene were already preparing to help relatives deal with tragic news.
"The families are still hopeful, but we psychologists are starting to prepare ourselves to counsel them in the context of mourning," said Penelope Exzacarias.
Rising death toll
The latest death toll stands at 305, of which more than half -- 167 fatalities -- were in Mexico City.
The rest of the deaths occurred in the states of Morelos, Puebla, Mexico, Guerrero and Oaxaca.
In the south of Mexico City, at a flattened school where 19 children died, relatives and neighbors had placed wreaths of white flowers.
Families were starting to hold funerals. One of the first was that of Gabriel Morales and Agueda Mendoza, a married couple found locked in embrace under the rubble, along with their dog Quino.
Elsewhere, Japanese rescuers removed their helmets and bowed before a recovered body, rescuers sang the Mexican national anthem after concluding work at a building and a volunteer joked with a young woman pulled from the rubble that she would have to invite his crew to dinner.
MEXICO CITY: A new earthquake sowed panic in Mexico City on Saturday, forcing a brief pause in rescue operations to free survivors from the more powerful tremor this week that devastated parts of the capital. The latest quake, with a magnitude of 6.1, was smaller and further south than the 7.1-magnitude one that struck on Tuesday, killing more than 300 people and toppling 39 buildings in the capital. As an alarm sounded, hundreds of startled residents raced out into the street, some barefoot, some carrying children. Trauma from the previous quake was evident. "Oh God, have mercy," exclaimed Teresa Martinez, 74, who stood in the street with other women, all crying. Two women died of heart attacks as they tried to leave their homes, according to local media reports. One was in her 80s and the other was 52, according to the website of the daily Reforma. Authorities said two people also died in the quake in the southern state of Oaxaca, where the epicenter was located. A bridge collapsed near the town of Juchitan, Oaxaca, already hit hard by a September 7 quake that killed nearly 100 people. Some buildings with previous damage collapsed. In a jittery Mexico City, the quake made buildings sway, but some didn't notice. "This time, we didn't feel the ground move... maybe since the last one we're getting used to them," said Pablo Martinez, who had run out of his apartment building with his six-year-old daughter in his arms. Elevated risk The new tremor sparked concern it could have caused heavy rubble on top of survivors awaiting rescue in the capital to shift -- posing a danger both to those trapped and to rescuers. Rescue crews quickly evacuated five sites in the capital where they had been working. They hesitated for a couple of hours, discussing the added risk, before going back in to look for survivors. Mexico City's mayor, Miguel Angel Mancera, told Televisa television that around "30 people may yet be able to be found in this search and rescue operation." So far, 69 people have been pulled alive from the rubble in Mexico City, according to authorities. "We've been told they have detected areas with life. They've sent in dogs and the dogs have indicated life," Paola Solorio, a 35-year-old who had three relatives trapped, told AFP. But the smell of decaying bodies wafting out from the buildings four days after the quake presaged grief for some relatives. Rescue workers wore face masks to shield themselves from the odor. Still, they refused to give up hope. "We're here to save lives. You have to have faith and believe (the people inside) are in a place with access to air and managed to survive," said Karin Kvitca, a 29-year-old with an Israeli rescue crew. Race to find survivors Anxious families have been holding vigils at the flattened sites, urging exhausted emergency workers to keep trying. "A lot of time has passed. But we won't give up," said the head of the civil protection service, Luis Felipe Puente. "Time has gotten the best of us. There are structures that are very complicated to access. But we're going to keep fighting for the families," he told Televisa. Many Mexicans remember "miracle" rescues a week after a 1985 quake that killed more than 10,000 people in the capital, spurring hopes that some might yet be pulled out alive. Yet psychologists dispatched to the scene were already preparing to help relatives deal with tragic news. "The families are still hopeful, but we psychologists are starting to prepare ourselves to counsel them in the context of mourning," said Penelope Exzacarias. Rising death toll The latest death toll stands at 305, of which more than half -- 167 fatalities -- were in Mexico City. The rest of the deaths occurred in the states of Morelos, Puebla, Mexico, Guerrero and Oaxaca. In the south of Mexico City, at a flattened school where 19 children died, relatives and neighbors had placed wreaths of white flowers. Families were starting to hold funerals. One of the first was that of Gabriel Morales and Agueda Mendoza, a married couple found locked in embrace under the rubble, along with their dog Quino. Elsewhere, Japanese rescuers removed their helmets and bowed before a recovered body, rescuers sang the Mexican national anthem after concluding work at a building and a volunteer joked with a young woman pulled from the rubble that she would have to invite his crew to dinner.
By AFP
BERLIN: Chancellor Angela Merkel clinched a fourth term in Germany's election Sunday, but her victory was clouded by the entry into parliament of the hard right AfD, the best showing for a nationalist force since World War II.
Merkel, who after 12 years in power held a double-digit lead for most of the campaign, scored around 33 percent of the vote with her conservative Christian Union (CDU/CSU) bloc, according to exit polls.
Its nearest rivals, the Social Democrats and their candidate Martin Schulz, came in a distant second, with a post-war record low 20-21 percent.
But in a bombshell for the German establishment, the anti-Islam, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) captured around 13 percent, catapulting it to become the country's third biggest political force.
Commentators called the AfD's strong performance a "watershed moment" in the history of the German republic. The top-selling Bild daily called it a "political earthquake".
Supporters gathered at the AfD party headquarters in Berlin cheered as public television reported the outcome, many joining in a chorus of the German national anthem.
The four-year-old nationalist party with links to the far-right French National Front and Britain's UKIP has been shunned by Germany's mainstream but was able to build on particularly strong support in ex-communist eastern Germany.
It is now headed for the opposition benches of the Bundestag lower house, dramatically boosting its visibility and state financing.
Alarmed by the prospect of what Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel branded "real Nazis" entering parliament, the candidates had used their final days of campaigning to implore voters to reject the populists.
- 'Big new challenge' -
Merkel basked in her win but admitted that she had fallen far short of the 40-percent goal her party set.
"There's a big new challenge for us, and that is the entry of the AfD in the Bundestag," said Merkel, adding: "We want to win back AfD voters."
Germans voted in a splintered parliament, reflecting an electorate torn between a relatively high degree of satisfaction with Merkel and a desire for change after more than a decade of her leadership.
Another three parties cleared the five-percent hurdle to be represented in parliament: the liberal Free Democrats at around 10 percent and the anti-capitalist Left and ecologist Greens, both at about nine percent.
As Merkel failed to secure a ruling majority on her own and with the dejected SPD ruling out another right-left "grand coalition" with her, the process of coalition building was shaping up to be a thorny, months-long process.
Merkel, 63, often called the most powerful woman on the global stage, ran on her record as a steady pair of hands in a turbulent world, warning voters not to indulge in "experiments".
Pundits said Merkel's reassuring message of stability and prosperity resonated in greying Germany, where more than half of the 61 million voters are aged 52 or older.
Her popularity had largely recovered from the influx since 2015 of more than one million mostly Muslim migrants and refugees, half of them from war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Breaking taboos -
But the AfD was able to capitalise on a wellspring of anger over the asylum issue during what was criticised as a largely lacklustre campaign bereft of real clashes among the main contenders.
The party has made breaking taboos its trademark.
Top AfD candidate Alexander Gauland has called for Germans to shed their guilt over two world wars and the Holocaust and to take pride in their veterans.
He has also suggested that Germany's integration commissioner Aydan Ozoguz, who has Turkish roots, should be "disposed of in Anatolia".
Law student Sabine Maier dismissed the AfD as "too extreme" as she voted in Berlin.
But she also criticised the media for lavishly covering the most outrageous comments by the upstart party.
"They aren't all fascists," she said.
- Merkel bound for 'Jamaica'? -
The SPD said its catastrophic result would lead it to seek a stint in opposition to rekindle its fighting spirit.
"This is a difficult and bitter day for German social democracy," a grim-faced Schulz, a former European Parliament chief, told reporters, adding that he hoped to remain party leader.
This would leave Merkel in need of new coalition partners.
If the SPD sticks to its refusal to play ball, mathematically the most likely scenario would be a link-up with the pro-business Free Democrats, who staged a comeback after crashing out of parliament four years ago, and the left-leaning Greens.
That so-called "Jamaica" coalition, based on the party colours and the Caribbean nation's flag, would be a risky proposition, given the differences between the parties on issues ranging from climate policy to migration issues.
Schulz, 61, struggled to gain traction with his calls for a more socially just Germany at a time when the economy is humming and employment is at a record low.
The SPD also found it hard to shine after four years as the junior partner in Merkel's grand coalition, marked by broad agreement on major issues, from foreign policy to migration.
BERLIN: Chancellor Angela Merkel clinched a fourth term in Germany's election Sunday, but her victory was clouded by the entry into parliament of the hard right AfD, the best showing for a nationalist force since World War II. Merkel, who after 12 years in power held a double-digit lead for most of the campaign, scored around 33 percent of the vote with her conservative Christian Union (CDU/CSU) bloc, according to exit polls. Its nearest rivals, the Social Democrats and their candidate Martin Schulz, came in a distant second, with a post-war record low 20-21 percent. But in a bombshell for the German establishment, the anti-Islam, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) captured around 13 percent, catapulting it to become the country's third biggest political force. Commentators called the AfD's strong performance a "watershed moment" in the history of the German republic. The top-selling Bild daily called it a "political earthquake". Supporters gathered at the AfD party headquarters in Berlin cheered as public television reported the outcome, many joining in a chorus of the German national anthem. The four-year-old nationalist party with links to the far-right French National Front and Britain's UKIP has been shunned by Germany's mainstream but was able to build on particularly strong support in ex-communist eastern Germany. It is now headed for the opposition benches of the Bundestag lower house, dramatically boosting its visibility and state financing. Alarmed by the prospect of what Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel branded "real Nazis" entering parliament, the candidates had used their final days of campaigning to implore voters to reject the populists. - 'Big new challenge' - Merkel basked in her win but admitted that she had fallen far short of the 40-percent goal her party set. "There's a big new challenge for us, and that is the entry of the AfD in the Bundestag," said Merkel, adding: "We want to win back AfD voters." Germans voted in a splintered parliament, reflecting an electorate torn between a relatively high degree of satisfaction with Merkel and a desire for change after more than a decade of her leadership. Another three parties cleared the five-percent hurdle to be represented in parliament: the liberal Free Democrats at around 10 percent and the anti-capitalist Left and ecologist Greens, both at about nine percent. As Merkel failed to secure a ruling majority on her own and with the dejected SPD ruling out another right-left "grand coalition" with her, the process of coalition building was shaping up to be a thorny, months-long process. Merkel, 63, often called the most powerful woman on the global stage, ran on her record as a steady pair of hands in a turbulent world, warning voters not to indulge in "experiments". Pundits said Merkel's reassuring message of stability and prosperity resonated in greying Germany, where more than half of the 61 million voters are aged 52 or older. Her popularity had largely recovered from the influx since 2015 of more than one million mostly Muslim migrants and refugees, half of them from war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. - Breaking taboos - But the AfD was able to capitalise on a wellspring of anger over the asylum issue during what was criticised as a largely lacklustre campaign bereft of real clashes among the main contenders. The party has made breaking taboos its trademark. Top AfD candidate Alexander Gauland has called for Germans to shed their guilt over two world wars and the Holocaust and to take pride in their veterans. He has also suggested that Germany's integration commissioner Aydan Ozoguz, who has Turkish roots, should be "disposed of in Anatolia". Law student Sabine Maier dismissed the AfD as "too extreme" as she voted in Berlin. But she also criticised the media for lavishly covering the most outrageous comments by the upstart party. "They aren't all fascists," she said. - Merkel bound for 'Jamaica'? - The SPD said its catastrophic result would lead it to seek a stint in opposition to rekindle its fighting spirit. "This is a difficult and bitter day for German social democracy," a grim-faced Schulz, a former European Parliament chief, told reporters, adding that he hoped to remain party leader. This would leave Merkel in need of new coalition partners. If the SPD sticks to its refusal to play ball, mathematically the most likely scenario would be a link-up with the pro-business Free Democrats, who staged a comeback after crashing out of parliament four years ago, and the left-leaning Greens. That so-called "Jamaica" coalition, based on the party colours and the Caribbean nation's flag, would be a risky proposition, given the differences between the parties on issues ranging from climate policy to migration issues. Schulz, 61, struggled to gain traction with his calls for a more socially just Germany at a time when the economy is humming and employment is at a record low. The SPD also found it hard to shine after four years as the junior partner in Merkel's grand coalition, marked by broad agreement on major issues, from foreign policy to migration.
By PTI
BAMAKO: At least three UN peacekeepers were killed today when their vehicle hit an explosive device in Mali's troubled north, the UN's mission to the conflict-torn country said.
MINUSMA said the attack, which also left another five soldiers seriously wounded, took place early today on a road between the city of Gao and a village called Anefis. In a separate statement, the Bangladeshi armed forces said three of its soldiers had been killed and another four wounded when their vehicle hit the explosive device.
The blast came a day after Bangladeshi peacekeepers successfully fended off another armed attack, it said. On September 5, two MINUSMA peacekeepers were killed and another two seriously wounded in a similar attack on their vehicle which was part of a logistical convoy in the northeast.
There are frequent clashes between rival armed groups in northern Mali which is also a haven for jihadist activity. Since 2013, when MINUSMA was deployed in Mali, 80 peacekeepers have been killed, making it the most costly UN mission in terms of human life since Somalia (1993-1995).
In 2012, key cities fell under the control of Al-Qaeda- linked jihadist groups who exploited an ethnic Tuareg-led rebel uprising, leading to a French-led military intervention and the UN deployment a year later. Although the Islamists were largely ousted, much of the region is lawless and attacks have continued on UN and French forces, civilians and the Malian army.
BAMAKO: At least three UN peacekeepers were killed today when their vehicle hit an explosive device in Mali's troubled north, the UN's mission to the conflict-torn country said. MINUSMA said the attack, which also left another five soldiers seriously wounded, took place early today on a road between the city of Gao and a village called Anefis. In a separate statement, the Bangladeshi armed forces said three of its soldiers had been killed and another four wounded when their vehicle hit the explosive device. The blast came a day after Bangladeshi peacekeepers successfully fended off another armed attack, it said. On September 5, two MINUSMA peacekeepers were killed and another two seriously wounded in a similar attack on their vehicle which was part of a logistical convoy in the northeast. There are frequent clashes between rival armed groups in northern Mali which is also a haven for jihadist activity. Since 2013, when MINUSMA was deployed in Mali, 80 peacekeepers have been killed, making it the most costly UN mission in terms of human life since Somalia (1993-1995). In 2012, key cities fell under the control of Al-Qaeda- linked jihadist groups who exploited an ethnic Tuareg-led rebel uprising, leading to a French-led military intervention and the UN deployment a year later. Although the Islamists were largely ousted, much of the region is lawless and attacks have continued on UN and French forces, civilians and the Malian army.
By PTI
UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan today accused India of adopting a posture of that of a "predator" and said if the international community wishes to avoid a dangerous escalation between the two neighbours, it must call on New Delhi to halt its provocations and aggressive actions.
Terming India as the "mother of terrorism" in South Asia, Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi accused it of sponsoring terrorism in various parts of her country.
Exercising her right to reply after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj yesterday hit out at Pakistan for creating terror groups like LeT, JeM, Hizbul Mujahideen and the Haqqani Network, Lodhi alleged that "in her vitriol she (Swaraj) deliberately ignored the core issue" of Kashmir.
Swaraj in her remarks did not mention Kashmir.
"If the international community wishes to avoid a dangerous escalation between India and Pakistan, it must call on India to halt its provocations and aggressive actions. It must end the ceasefire violations along the Line of Control.
It must halt its sponsorship of terrorist groups against Pakistan," Lodhi said.
Given that such responses are normally given by a low-level foreign service official, it was quite significant that the top Pakistani diplomat took up the floor to launch a verbal dual against India.
India did not immediately exercise its right to response to Lodhis remarks, in which Pakistan for the second time accused the National Security Advisor Ajit K Doval of interfering in Balochistan.
Lodhi said if the parties fail to resolve a dispute, the UN and the international community has not only the right but the obligation to intervene and help to resolve the dispute.
"UN Security Council resolutions do not lapse with time.
Or are 'overtaken', as the Indian foreign minister put it. Law has no expiry date. Morality has no sell-by date. India's posture is that of the predator. It cannot escape its legal and moral obligation to abide by the resolutions of the Security Council," she said.
Referring to Swaraj's remarks on terrorism and her push for a definition, Lodhi said the UN should actually define terrorism.
"In that definition, we should include 'state terrorism'.
The state terrorism which the Indian National Security Adviser has boasted is being sponsored by India's spy agencies in Pakistan's Balochistan province in what he called a 'double squeeze' strategy," she alleged.
"India has sponsored and perpetrated terrorism and aggression against all its neighbours; creating terror groups; destabilising and blockading neighbours to do its strategic bidding and sponsoring subversion, sabotage and terrorism in various parts of Pakistan. All this establishes that India is the mother of terrorism in South Asia," she alleged.
She said the 'largest democracy' is also "the world's largest hypocrisy" and it's ruled by the "fascist" ideology.
Lodhi alleged that Swaraj in her speech criticised Pakistan's founding father M A Jinnah.
She also said Pakistan remains open to resuming a comprehensive dialogue with India to address all outstanding issues, especially Jammu and Kashmir and discuss measures to maintain peace and security.
"But this dialogue must be accompanied by an end to Indias campaign of subversion and state sponsored terrorism in Pakistan," she demanded.
In her speech, Swaraj had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has offered the hand of peace and friendship since he assumed office. "Pakistan's Prime Minister must answer why his nation spurned this offer," she had said.
Swaraj reminded Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi that in December 2015, when she was in Islamabad, a decision was made by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that dialogue between India and Pakistan should be renewed and named it a "Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue".
"The word 'bilateral' was used consciously to remove any confusion or doubt about the fact that the proposed talks would be between our two nations and only between our two nations, without any third-party present. And he must answer why that proposal withered, because Pakistan is responsible for the aborting that peace process," Swaraj had said.
UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan today accused India of adopting a posture of that of a "predator" and said if the international community wishes to avoid a dangerous escalation between the two neighbours, it must call on New Delhi to halt its provocations and aggressive actions. Terming India as the "mother of terrorism" in South Asia, Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi accused it of sponsoring terrorism in various parts of her country. Exercising her right to reply after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj yesterday hit out at Pakistan for creating terror groups like LeT, JeM, Hizbul Mujahideen and the Haqqani Network, Lodhi alleged that "in her vitriol she (Swaraj) deliberately ignored the core issue" of Kashmir. Swaraj in her remarks did not mention Kashmir. "If the international community wishes to avoid a dangerous escalation between India and Pakistan, it must call on India to halt its provocations and aggressive actions. It must end the ceasefire violations along the Line of Control. It must halt its sponsorship of terrorist groups against Pakistan," Lodhi said. Given that such responses are normally given by a low-level foreign service official, it was quite significant that the top Pakistani diplomat took up the floor to launch a verbal dual against India. India did not immediately exercise its right to response to Lodhis remarks, in which Pakistan for the second time accused the National Security Advisor Ajit K Doval of interfering in Balochistan. Lodhi said if the parties fail to resolve a dispute, the UN and the international community has not only the right but the obligation to intervene and help to resolve the dispute. "UN Security Council resolutions do not lapse with time. Or are 'overtaken', as the Indian foreign minister put it. Law has no expiry date. Morality has no sell-by date. India's posture is that of the predator. It cannot escape its legal and moral obligation to abide by the resolutions of the Security Council," she said. Referring to Swaraj's remarks on terrorism and her push for a definition, Lodhi said the UN should actually define terrorism. "In that definition, we should include 'state terrorism'. The state terrorism which the Indian National Security Adviser has boasted is being sponsored by India's spy agencies in Pakistan's Balochistan province in what he called a 'double squeeze' strategy," she alleged. "India has sponsored and perpetrated terrorism and aggression against all its neighbours; creating terror groups; destabilising and blockading neighbours to do its strategic bidding and sponsoring subversion, sabotage and terrorism in various parts of Pakistan. All this establishes that India is the mother of terrorism in South Asia," she alleged. She said the 'largest democracy' is also "the world's largest hypocrisy" and it's ruled by the "fascist" ideology. Lodhi alleged that Swaraj in her speech criticised Pakistan's founding father M A Jinnah. She also said Pakistan remains open to resuming a comprehensive dialogue with India to address all outstanding issues, especially Jammu and Kashmir and discuss measures to maintain peace and security. "But this dialogue must be accompanied by an end to Indias campaign of subversion and state sponsored terrorism in Pakistan," she demanded. In her speech, Swaraj had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has offered the hand of peace and friendship since he assumed office. "Pakistan's Prime Minister must answer why his nation spurned this offer," she had said. Swaraj reminded Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi that in December 2015, when she was in Islamabad, a decision was made by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that dialogue between India and Pakistan should be renewed and named it a "Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue". "The word 'bilateral' was used consciously to remove any confusion or doubt about the fact that the proposed talks would be between our two nations and only between our two nations, without any third-party present. And he must answer why that proposal withered, because Pakistan is responsible for the aborting that peace process," Swaraj had said.
By AFP
JERUSALEM: Israel's culture minister asked the attorney general Sunday to order the investigation of a prominent Arab Israeli filmmaker who spoke out against the Jewish state during a visit to Lebanon.
Mohammed Bakri, who is in Lebanon as part of the "Palestine Days" cultural festival, reportedly said over the weekend that "normalisation with the Zionist enemy is treason, and the debate surrounding it is disgraceful and totally unacceptable".
Bakri called his presence in Lebanon, which is officially in a state of war with Israel, "a victory over (Israel's) racist laws", in remarks carried by the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar.
On Sunday, Culture Minister Miri Regev asked state attorney Avichai Mandelblit to launch an investigation against Bakri upon his return over visiting an enemy country and "inciting" against the state.
"The absence of a firm response from law enforcement agencies would legitimise this type of unacceptable conduct," Regev wrote in a letter.
The justice ministry refused to comment on the issue.
Bakri told Israel's Channel 2 television that he didn't "believe a word" Regev said.
"I don't take her seriously," he said, stressing he was not afraid of being arrested.
Bakri enraged the Israeli establishment and Jewish public with his documentary film "Jenin, Jenin" about April 2002 clashes in which 52 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers were killed.
The film was banned in Israel after a few screenings, but the supreme court later overturned the ban.
The outspoken Regev, a former military censor who belongs to what is seen as Israel's most right-wing government ever, has also repeatedly taken on the country's largely left-wing Jewish cultural elite.
In recent days, she lashed out against a new film, "Foxtrot", which won the grand jury prize at the Venice film festival as well as Israel's best film award, making it eligible for the Oscars.
Regev, who accused the film of "choosing to lie about the Israeli army", vowed to change how public funds are allocated to the cinema industry.
JERUSALEM: Israel's culture minister asked the attorney general Sunday to order the investigation of a prominent Arab Israeli filmmaker who spoke out against the Jewish state during a visit to Lebanon. Mohammed Bakri, who is in Lebanon as part of the "Palestine Days" cultural festival, reportedly said over the weekend that "normalisation with the Zionist enemy is treason, and the debate surrounding it is disgraceful and totally unacceptable". Bakri called his presence in Lebanon, which is officially in a state of war with Israel, "a victory over (Israel's) racist laws", in remarks carried by the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar. On Sunday, Culture Minister Miri Regev asked state attorney Avichai Mandelblit to launch an investigation against Bakri upon his return over visiting an enemy country and "inciting" against the state. "The absence of a firm response from law enforcement agencies would legitimise this type of unacceptable conduct," Regev wrote in a letter. The justice ministry refused to comment on the issue. Bakri told Israel's Channel 2 television that he didn't "believe a word" Regev said. "I don't take her seriously," he said, stressing he was not afraid of being arrested. Bakri enraged the Israeli establishment and Jewish public with his documentary film "Jenin, Jenin" about April 2002 clashes in which 52 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers were killed. The film was banned in Israel after a few screenings, but the supreme court later overturned the ban. The outspoken Regev, a former military censor who belongs to what is seen as Israel's most right-wing government ever, has also repeatedly taken on the country's largely left-wing Jewish cultural elite. In recent days, she lashed out against a new film, "Foxtrot", which won the grand jury prize at the Venice film festival as well as Israel's best film award, making it eligible for the Oscars. Regev, who accused the film of "choosing to lie about the Israeli army", vowed to change how public funds are allocated to the cinema industry.
By PTI
LAHORE: A Pakistani court conducting the trial of seven Mumbai terror attack suspects has ordered the Federal Investigation Agency to appoint a focal person to press for bringing 24 Indian witnesses here to record their statements in the case.
Mumbai attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum have been facing charges of abetment to murder, attempted murder, planning and executing the 2008 Mumbai attack.
The prosecution in the case said the Indian witnesses statements are needed to conclude the trial which has been going on for more than seven years.
India has been urging Pakistan to complete the trial at the earliest, saying enough evidence has been shared with Pakistan to prosecute the accused.
India has also asked Pakistan to re-investigate the Mumbai attack case and put on trial Jammat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed who is currently under house arrest in Lahore under the anti-terrorism law.
An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan held the hearing of the Mumbai terror attack case at Adiyala Jail in Rawalpindi last week.
It "directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general to appoint a focal person to pursue the case of bringing 24 Indian witnesses here to record their statements with the country's interior and foreign ministries," a court official told PTI.
He said the FIA's focal person will ask both ministries to take up the matter with the Indian government to send the Indian witnesses here.
"It appear to a last effort to bring the Indian witnesses here. Otherwise like the defence, the prosecution will also request the court to announce the verdict without the statements of Indian witnesses," the official said.
A total of 166 people were killed in the attack carried out by 10 LeT men. Nine terrorists who carried out the attack were killed while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was captured alive and later executed in 2012 in Pune.
LAHORE: A Pakistani court conducting the trial of seven Mumbai terror attack suspects has ordered the Federal Investigation Agency to appoint a focal person to press for bringing 24 Indian witnesses here to record their statements in the case. Mumbai attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum have been facing charges of abetment to murder, attempted murder, planning and executing the 2008 Mumbai attack. The prosecution in the case said the Indian witnesses statements are needed to conclude the trial which has been going on for more than seven years. India has been urging Pakistan to complete the trial at the earliest, saying enough evidence has been shared with Pakistan to prosecute the accused. India has also asked Pakistan to re-investigate the Mumbai attack case and put on trial Jammat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed who is currently under house arrest in Lahore under the anti-terrorism law. An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan held the hearing of the Mumbai terror attack case at Adiyala Jail in Rawalpindi last week. It "directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general to appoint a focal person to pursue the case of bringing 24 Indian witnesses here to record their statements with the country's interior and foreign ministries," a court official told PTI. He said the FIA's focal person will ask both ministries to take up the matter with the Indian government to send the Indian witnesses here. "It appear to a last effort to bring the Indian witnesses here. Otherwise like the defence, the prosecution will also request the court to announce the verdict without the statements of Indian witnesses," the official said. A total of 166 people were killed in the attack carried out by 10 LeT men. Nine terrorists who carried out the attack were killed while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was captured alive and later executed in 2012 in Pune.
By ANI
NEW YORK: Pakistan on Sunday described India as the Mother of Terrorism in South Asia and urged the international community to stop New Delhis provocative and aggressive actions.
Pakistans Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi cautioned the international community to act firmly against India if it wanted to avoid a dangerous escalation between the two neighbours.
Lodhi, who was exercising her right to reply to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swarajs view that Pakistan has created terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Haqqani Network, said New Delhi must stop ignoring what she called the core issue of Kashmir.
It may be recalled that Swaraj avoided mentioning Kashmir in her address at the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
If the international community wishes to avoid a dangerous escalation between India and Pakistan, it must call on India to halt its provocations and aggressive actions. It must end the ceasefire violations along the Line of Control. It must halt its sponsorship of terrorist groups against Pakistan, Lodhi said.
India is yet to decide whether it wants to exercise its right to respond to Ambassador Lodhis remarks.
Ambassador Lodhi said if Pakistan and India fail to resolve the Kashmir dispute, the UN and the international community has the right and the obligation to help to resolve it.
UN Security Council resolutions do not lapse with time. Or are overtaken, as the Indian foreign minister put it. Law has no expiry date. Morality has no sell-by date. Indias posture is that of the predator. It cannot escape its legal and moral obligation to abide by the resolutions of the Security Council, she said.
Referring to Swarajs remarks on terrorism and her push for a definition, Lodhi said the UN should actually define terrorism.
In that definition, we should include state terrorismIndia has sponsored and perpetrated terrorism and aggression against all its neighbours; creating terror groups; destabilising and blockading neighbours to do its strategic bidding and sponsoring subversion, sabotage and terrorism in various parts of Pakistan. All this establishes that India is the mother of terrorism in South Asia, she alleged.
She said the largest democracy is also the worlds largest hypocrisy and its ruled by the Fascist ideology.
She also said Pakistan remains open to resuming a comprehensive dialogue with India to address all outstanding issues, especially Jammu and Kashmir and discuss measures to maintain peace and security.
But this dialogue must be accompanied by an end to Indias campaign of subversion and state sponsored terrorism in Pakistan, she demanded.
In her speech, Swaraj had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has offered the hand of peace and friendship since he assumed office.
Pakistans Prime Minister must answer why his nation spurned this offer, she had said.
Swaraj reminded Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi that in December 2015, when she was in Islamabad, a decision was made by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that dialogue between India and Pakistan should be renewed and named it a Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue.
The word bilateral was used consciously to remove any confusion or doubt about the fact that the proposed talks would be between our two nations and only between our two nations, without any third-party present. And he must answer why that proposal withered, because Pakistan is responsible for the aborting that peace process, Swaraj had said.
NEW YORK: Pakistan on Sunday described India as the Mother of Terrorism in South Asia and urged the international community to stop New Delhis provocative and aggressive actions. Pakistans Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi cautioned the international community to act firmly against India if it wanted to avoid a dangerous escalation between the two neighbours. Lodhi, who was exercising her right to reply to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swarajs view that Pakistan has created terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Haqqani Network, said New Delhi must stop ignoring what she called the core issue of Kashmir. It may be recalled that Swaraj avoided mentioning Kashmir in her address at the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). If the international community wishes to avoid a dangerous escalation between India and Pakistan, it must call on India to halt its provocations and aggressive actions. It must end the ceasefire violations along the Line of Control. It must halt its sponsorship of terrorist groups against Pakistan, Lodhi said. India is yet to decide whether it wants to exercise its right to respond to Ambassador Lodhis remarks. Ambassador Lodhi said if Pakistan and India fail to resolve the Kashmir dispute, the UN and the international community has the right and the obligation to help to resolve it. UN Security Council resolutions do not lapse with time. Or are overtaken, as the Indian foreign minister put it. Law has no expiry date. Morality has no sell-by date. Indias posture is that of the predator. It cannot escape its legal and moral obligation to abide by the resolutions of the Security Council, she said. Referring to Swarajs remarks on terrorism and her push for a definition, Lodhi said the UN should actually define terrorism. In that definition, we should include state terrorismIndia has sponsored and perpetrated terrorism and aggression against all its neighbours; creating terror groups; destabilising and blockading neighbours to do its strategic bidding and sponsoring subversion, sabotage and terrorism in various parts of Pakistan. All this establishes that India is the mother of terrorism in South Asia, she alleged. She said the largest democracy is also the worlds largest hypocrisy and its ruled by the Fascist ideology. She also said Pakistan remains open to resuming a comprehensive dialogue with India to address all outstanding issues, especially Jammu and Kashmir and discuss measures to maintain peace and security. But this dialogue must be accompanied by an end to Indias campaign of subversion and state sponsored terrorism in Pakistan, she demanded. In her speech, Swaraj had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has offered the hand of peace and friendship since he assumed office. Pakistans Prime Minister must answer why his nation spurned this offer, she had said. Swaraj reminded Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi that in December 2015, when she was in Islamabad, a decision was made by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that dialogue between India and Pakistan should be renewed and named it a Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue. The word bilateral was used consciously to remove any confusion or doubt about the fact that the proposed talks would be between our two nations and only between our two nations, without any third-party present. And he must answer why that proposal withered, because Pakistan is responsible for the aborting that peace process, Swaraj had said.
By PTI
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan today summoned India's acting Deputy High Commissioner here over alleged "ceasefire violations" by Indian troops along the Line of Control (LoC).
Pakistan claimed that a 22-year-old girl was killed due to the alleged firing by the Indian troops and two others were injured. Pakistan Foreign Office alleged that India committed "unprovoked ceasefire violations" in Kotli and Nikial Sub - sector on September 22.
"The deliberate targeting of civilians is indeed deplorable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws," the Foreign Office said. Pakistan urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 ceasefire arrangement, investigate this and other incidents of ceasefire violations, and instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire in letter and spirit and maintain peace along the LoC.
He also called on the Indian side to allow the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to play its mandated role as per the UN Security Council resolutions.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan today summoned India's acting Deputy High Commissioner here over alleged "ceasefire violations" by Indian troops along the Line of Control (LoC). Pakistan claimed that a 22-year-old girl was killed due to the alleged firing by the Indian troops and two others were injured. Pakistan Foreign Office alleged that India committed "unprovoked ceasefire violations" in Kotli and Nikial Sub - sector on September 22. "The deliberate targeting of civilians is indeed deplorable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws," the Foreign Office said. Pakistan urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 ceasefire arrangement, investigate this and other incidents of ceasefire violations, and instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire in letter and spirit and maintain peace along the LoC. He also called on the Indian side to allow the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to play its mandated role as per the UN Security Council resolutions.
By AFP
BEIRUT: Russian air strikes have killed 45 members of a rebel group in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Sunday.
It was unclear why the strikes, which took place Saturday, targeted members of the Faylaq al-Sham rebel group, which has taken part in peace talks supervised by Moscow in the Kazakh capital Astana.
The strikes hit the group in the province of Idlib, which is part of a so-called "de-confliction" zone agreed in a deal between Syrian regime allies Russia and Iran, and rebel backer Turkey.
The Observatory initially reported a lower toll, but said the figure had risen as bodies were recovered after the strike on one of the rebel group's headquarters on the outskirts of the village of Tal Mardikh.
Faylaq al-Sham is an Islamist rebel group considered close to the Muslim Brotherhood movement.
It has fought against the former Al-Qaeda affiliate that now effectively controls nearly all of Idlib after chasing its former rebel allies from their positions in fighting this summer.
A spokesman for Faylaq al-Sham confirmed the group's headquarters had been targeted, despite their participation in the last round of talks in Astana.
"Our participation in Astana does not in any way mean that Russia is a friendly or neutral country," Idriss al-Raed told AFP.
"The Russian bombing is not surprising, since its policy since its intervention in Syria is based on criminality and killing," he added.
Russia began an intervention in Syria in support of ally President Bashar al-Assad in 2015, and has helped the regime win back large parts of the country.
Moscow also helped broker a deal for four truce zones, one of which includes Idlib province, in an agreement with Iran and Turkey inked in May.
The deal excludes jihadists, but is intended to otherwise halt fighting in the agreed areas.
The three other zones are around the capital Damascus, in southern Syria and in the centre of the country.
More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
BEIRUT: Russian air strikes have killed 45 members of a rebel group in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Sunday. It was unclear why the strikes, which took place Saturday, targeted members of the Faylaq al-Sham rebel group, which has taken part in peace talks supervised by Moscow in the Kazakh capital Astana. The strikes hit the group in the province of Idlib, which is part of a so-called "de-confliction" zone agreed in a deal between Syrian regime allies Russia and Iran, and rebel backer Turkey. The Observatory initially reported a lower toll, but said the figure had risen as bodies were recovered after the strike on one of the rebel group's headquarters on the outskirts of the village of Tal Mardikh. Faylaq al-Sham is an Islamist rebel group considered close to the Muslim Brotherhood movement. It has fought against the former Al-Qaeda affiliate that now effectively controls nearly all of Idlib after chasing its former rebel allies from their positions in fighting this summer. A spokesman for Faylaq al-Sham confirmed the group's headquarters had been targeted, despite their participation in the last round of talks in Astana. "Our participation in Astana does not in any way mean that Russia is a friendly or neutral country," Idriss al-Raed told AFP. "The Russian bombing is not surprising, since its policy since its intervention in Syria is based on criminality and killing," he added. Russia began an intervention in Syria in support of ally President Bashar al-Assad in 2015, and has helped the regime win back large parts of the country. Moscow also helped broker a deal for four truce zones, one of which includes Idlib province, in an agreement with Iran and Turkey inked in May. The deal excludes jihadists, but is intended to otherwise halt fighting in the agreed areas. The three other zones are around the capital Damascus, in southern Syria and in the centre of the country. More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
By IANS
UNITED NATIONS: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was cheered from the floor and the Indian guests in the visitors gallery as she strode wearing her trademark saffron saree on to the stage with a gilded background in the wood-panelled General Assembly building.
As she spoke in Hindi, with simultaneous translations in five languages, from the dark stone podium embossed with the UN logo, she received applause when she talked of fighting terrorism.
There was some laughter when she derisively said that the world reacted with, "Look who is talking!" when Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abassi accused India of state-sponsored terrorism.
She started her speech with a report card on India's achievements in development, before segueing to Pakistan and terror, raising her voice in indignation.
Sushma Swaraj then switched to an almost pleading tone calling for action on climate change.
And then she laid out India's case and UN reforms in a firm voice.
Her speech coming on the fifth day of the high-level session and on a Saturday was sparsely attended on the floor of the chamber, but almost everyone of the 193 members of the UN had at least one delegate present, some of them coming in just for her speech, which followed that of Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Walid Al Moualem.
Nepal's Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba spoke earlier in the session.
Indian Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar listened from the Indian position in the Assembly chamber.
Sushma Swaraj ended her speech with a Sanskrit shloka:
"May all be happy; May all be healthy; May all see what is good; May all be free from suffering."
UNITED NATIONS: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was cheered from the floor and the Indian guests in the visitors gallery as she strode wearing her trademark saffron saree on to the stage with a gilded background in the wood-panelled General Assembly building. As she spoke in Hindi, with simultaneous translations in five languages, from the dark stone podium embossed with the UN logo, she received applause when she talked of fighting terrorism. There was some laughter when she derisively said that the world reacted with, "Look who is talking!" when Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abassi accused India of state-sponsored terrorism. She started her speech with a report card on India's achievements in development, before segueing to Pakistan and terror, raising her voice in indignation. Sushma Swaraj then switched to an almost pleading tone calling for action on climate change. And then she laid out India's case and UN reforms in a firm voice. Her speech coming on the fifth day of the high-level session and on a Saturday was sparsely attended on the floor of the chamber, but almost everyone of the 193 members of the UN had at least one delegate present, some of them coming in just for her speech, which followed that of Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Walid Al Moualem. Nepal's Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba spoke earlier in the session. Indian Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar listened from the Indian position in the Assembly chamber. Sushma Swaraj ended her speech with a Sanskrit shloka: "May all be happy; May all be healthy; May all see what is good; May all be free from suffering."
By Associated Press
MANILA: Filipino military officials say two Vietnamese fishermen were killed and five others were taken into custody after they were spotted fishing off the northwestern Philippines and a night chase ensued with a Vietnamese boat hitting a Philippine navy ship and gunshots being fired.
Philippine navy information officer Lt Jose Covarrubias says the five Vietnamese, along with their two dead fellow fishermen, have been turned over to Filipino police authorities after the early yesterday incident off Bolinao town in northwestern Pangasinan province.
Covarrubias said today that details remained sketchy and that an investigation was underway.
Covarrubias said the incident happened within the 200nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines, a stretch of ocean where a coastal state has been granted exclusive rights to fish and exploit other sea resources.
MANILA: Filipino military officials say two Vietnamese fishermen were killed and five others were taken into custody after they were spotted fishing off the northwestern Philippines and a night chase ensued with a Vietnamese boat hitting a Philippine navy ship and gunshots being fired. Philippine navy information officer Lt Jose Covarrubias says the five Vietnamese, along with their two dead fellow fishermen, have been turned over to Filipino police authorities after the early yesterday incident off Bolinao town in northwestern Pangasinan province. Covarrubias said today that details remained sketchy and that an investigation was underway. Covarrubias said the incident happened within the 200nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines, a stretch of ocean where a coastal state has been granted exclusive rights to fish and exploit other sea resources.
By AFP
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump gave a stark warning Saturday that cast growing uncertainty over whether a nuclear deal clinched with Iran would survive after the Islamic republic tested a new medium-range missile.
State television carried footage of the launch of the Khoramshahr missile, which was first displayed at a high-profile military parade in Tehran on Friday.
It also carried in-flight video from the nose cone of the missile, which has a range of 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) and can carry multiple warheads.
"Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel.They are also working with North Korea. Not much of an agreement we have!" Trump tweeted.
The test comes at the end of a heated week of diplomacy at the UN General Assembly in New York, where US President Donald Trump again accused Iran of destabilizing the Middle East, calling it a "rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed and chaos."
"As long as some speak in the language of threats, the strengthening of the country's defence capabilities will continue and Iran will not seek permission from any country for producing various kinds of missile," Defense Minister Amir Hatami said in a statement.
Previous Iranian missile launches have triggered US sanctions and accusations that they violate the spirit of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers.
An "extremely concerned" French foreign ministry, warned the launch violated the United Nations Security Council resolution that endorsed the accord.
"France demands that Iran halt all destablizing activities in the region and to respect all provisions of Resolution 2231, including the call to halt this type of ballistic activity," a statement read.
"France will consider ways, with its European and other partners, to get Iran to stop its destabilizing ballistic activities."
Iran, which fought a war with neighboring Iraq in the 1980s, sees missiles as a legitimate and vital part of its defense -- particularly as regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Israel import huge amounts of military hardware from the West.
Trump has threatened to bin the nuclear agreement altogether, saying Iran is developing missiles that may be used to deliver a nuclear warhead when the deal's restrictions are lifted in 2025.
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman denounced the test as a "provocation" aimed at the United States and its allies, including the Jewish state.
European support
Trump is due to report to Congress on October 15 on whether Iran is still complying with the deal and whether it remains in US interests to stick by it.
If he decides that it is not, that could open the way for US lawmakers to reimpose sanctions, leading to the potential collapse of the agreement.
Trump said Wednesday he had made his decision but was not yet ready to reveal it.
The other signatories to the deal -- Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia and the European Union -- have all pushed for it to continue.
They point out that abandoning the agreement will remove restrictions on Iran immediately -- rather than in eight years' time -- and that the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly confirmed Tehran is meeting its commitments.
Iran says all of its missiles are designed to carry conventional warheads only and has limited their range to a maximum of 2,000 kilometres, although commanders say they have the technology to go further.
That makes them only medium-range but still sufficient to reach Israel or US bases in the Gulf.
"The ballistic missile which Iran fired is a provocation of the United States and its allies, including Israel," the Israeli defense minister said.
"It is also a means to test our reactions as well as new proof of Iran's ambition to become a world power in order to threaten the countries of the Middle East and democratic states around the world."
In addition to carrying out missile tests, Iran has also launched a space satellite and fired missiles at Islamic State group targets in eastern Syria in recent months.
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump gave a stark warning Saturday that cast growing uncertainty over whether a nuclear deal clinched with Iran would survive after the Islamic republic tested a new medium-range missile. State television carried footage of the launch of the Khoramshahr missile, which was first displayed at a high-profile military parade in Tehran on Friday. It also carried in-flight video from the nose cone of the missile, which has a range of 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) and can carry multiple warheads. "Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel.They are also working with North Korea. Not much of an agreement we have!" Trump tweeted. The test comes at the end of a heated week of diplomacy at the UN General Assembly in New York, where US President Donald Trump again accused Iran of destabilizing the Middle East, calling it a "rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed and chaos." "As long as some speak in the language of threats, the strengthening of the country's defence capabilities will continue and Iran will not seek permission from any country for producing various kinds of missile," Defense Minister Amir Hatami said in a statement. Previous Iranian missile launches have triggered US sanctions and accusations that they violate the spirit of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers. An "extremely concerned" French foreign ministry, warned the launch violated the United Nations Security Council resolution that endorsed the accord. "France demands that Iran halt all destablizing activities in the region and to respect all provisions of Resolution 2231, including the call to halt this type of ballistic activity," a statement read. "France will consider ways, with its European and other partners, to get Iran to stop its destabilizing ballistic activities." Iran, which fought a war with neighboring Iraq in the 1980s, sees missiles as a legitimate and vital part of its defense -- particularly as regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Israel import huge amounts of military hardware from the West. Trump has threatened to bin the nuclear agreement altogether, saying Iran is developing missiles that may be used to deliver a nuclear warhead when the deal's restrictions are lifted in 2025. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman denounced the test as a "provocation" aimed at the United States and its allies, including the Jewish state. European support Trump is due to report to Congress on October 15 on whether Iran is still complying with the deal and whether it remains in US interests to stick by it. If he decides that it is not, that could open the way for US lawmakers to reimpose sanctions, leading to the potential collapse of the agreement. Trump said Wednesday he had made his decision but was not yet ready to reveal it. The other signatories to the deal -- Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia and the European Union -- have all pushed for it to continue. They point out that abandoning the agreement will remove restrictions on Iran immediately -- rather than in eight years' time -- and that the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly confirmed Tehran is meeting its commitments. Iran says all of its missiles are designed to carry conventional warheads only and has limited their range to a maximum of 2,000 kilometres, although commanders say they have the technology to go further. That makes them only medium-range but still sufficient to reach Israel or US bases in the Gulf. "The ballistic missile which Iran fired is a provocation of the United States and its allies, including Israel," the Israeli defense minister said. "It is also a means to test our reactions as well as new proof of Iran's ambition to become a world power in order to threaten the countries of the Middle East and democratic states around the world." In addition to carrying out missile tests, Iran has also launched a space satellite and fired missiles at Islamic State group targets in eastern Syria in recent months.
PCD captures Division IV girls soccer title as Rogers comes up short
When the final horn sounded the Knights raced toward their keeper Sarah Howe and the celebration was on. It was a sweet win, one the Knights earned.
Champaign, IL (61820)
Today
Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 43F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..
Tonight
Cloudy skies with late-night snow showers. Low around 30F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 60%. Snow accumulations less than one inch.
New Delhi: Twenty one bars and restaurants in Hauz Khas village were sealed on Saturday for operating without environmental clearances. The action came just days after the Delhi High Court observed that the area was a ticking time bomb.
The eateries were sealed during a joint operation led by the sub-divisional magistrate, Delhi Pollution Control Committee and the police between 9 am and 2 pm, a government official said.
The Delhi Pollution Control Committee said that these establishments did not have the consent to establish or operate. The pollution board had sent a show-cause notice in April.
The sealing drive was undertaken as the owners of the bars and restaurants failed to reply to the notices.
Officials said the sealing was conducted under section 33A of Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and section 31A of Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
On September 15, a bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal warned the associations of restaurants owners that they will not be allowed to escape civil and criminal liability in case any unfortunate incident takes place, as there was virtually no space for emergency vehicles to enter the area.
"The reports of Delhi Police, Delhi Fire Service, SDMC and the Delhi Jal Board illustrate that the Hauz Khas village is a ticking time bomb without essential civic and emergency services," it had observed.
New Delhi: Pakistan resorted to raising the Kashmir rhetoric at the United Nations again, a day after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj launched a scathing attack on the country for exporting terrorism.
Replying to Swarajs speech at the General Assembly, Pakistan said it was open for dialogue and called upon the world body to define terrorism, but at the same time sought to rake up tensions by again taking up the Kashmir issue and taking potshots at the BJP.
Pakistans Permanent Representative to UN Maleeha Lodhi said Swaraj belonged to a political party which was accused of assassinating Mahatma Gandhi and called the Indian Armys presence in Jammu and Kashmir illegal.
Jammu and Kashmir is not part of India and thus Indias military operation is illegal, Lodhi said despite Swarajs reminder a day before that India and Pakistan had mutually decided in the 1972 Simla Agreement that both countries would not raise the issue at international or third-party forums.
Islamabad also accused New Delhi of spreading terrorism in Pakistan, saying spy Kulbhushan Jadhav was sent for this purpose. Jadhav is a former Indian Navy officer who has been sentenced to death by a military court in Pakistan on charges of spying, a claim India has rubbished at the International Court of Justice.
On Saturday, Sushma Swaraj had asked Pakistani leaders to introspect as to why India is recognised as a global IT superpower, while Pakistan is infamous as the "pre-eminent export factory for terror".
In her address to the 72nd UN General Assembly session, Swaraj accused Pakistan of waging a war against India and said a country that has been the world's greatest exporter of havoc, death and inhumanity became a champion of hypocrisy by preaching about humanity from this podium.
She was referring to Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's speech on Thursday wherein he accused India of violating human rights and state-sponsored terrorism.
"I would like today to tell Pakistan's politicians just this much, that perhaps the wisest thing they could do is to look within. India and Pakistan became free within hours of each other. Why is it that today India is a recognised IT superpower in the world, and Pakistan is recognised only as the pre-eminent export factory for terror?" Swaraj asked.
India had ripped into Pakistan yesterday, describing it as "terroristan" and a land of "pure terror" that hosts a flourishing industry to produce and export global terrorism.
Speaking in Hindi for the second consecutive year at the annual UNGA session, Swaraj said India has risen despite being the principal destination of Pakistan's nefarious export of terrorism.
"There have been many governments under many parties during 70 years of Indian freedom, for we have been a sustained democracy. Every government has done its bit for Indias development," she said, highlighting India's achievements in the fields of education, health, space etc.
"We produced scientists, scholars, doctors, engineers. What have you produced? You have produced terrorists... you have created terrorist camps, you have created Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahideen and Haqqani network," she said, adding that if Pakistan had spent on its development what it has spent on developing terror, both Pakistan and the world would be safer and better-off today.
(With PTI inputs)
Varanasi: Protests over an alleged molestation case of a first year student at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) turned violent on Saturday night with police resorting to lathicharge to disperse the crowd.
While some miscreants tried to set fire on public property and pelted stones, police and paramilitary forces then allegedly beat up several protesters and marched onto the campus.
Several videos have surfaced showing male police personnel and PAC officers brutally beating up girls and barging into the girls hostel. Media personnel covering the event were also caught in the clashes.
Journalists and Lucknow University students would also join the protests on Sunday. The media professionals staged a protest near the CM's residence on Sunday.
The students who have been protesting over two days, refused to lift their dharna near the front gate, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was visiting the city on Saturday and was supposed to pass by the prestigious university.
The girls wanted to draw his attention to the persistent problem at BHU, of lack of security, sexual harassment inside the campus and victim shaming.
As soon as the news of lathicharge spread on Saturday night, students from other hostels also joined in and the situation went out of control. The protesters took to stone pelting and arsoning on the campus.
The police also fired in the air to disperse the agitators.
The female students alleged that the police thrashed and pulled them by their hair, even as the Varanasi district magistrate, who was present on the spot, denied the claims.
On Friday, as Varanasi prepared to welcome PM Modi, hundreds of girls at BHU sat on an indefinite dharna determined to draw the PM's attention towards the growing number of cases of eve-teasing on campus.
Former UP Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav wrote: Issue should not be resolved by forces and instead it should be done by dialogue. I condemn the lathi charge on students of BHU. Action should be taken against the culprits (sic).
Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav also tweeted: I condemn the attack on protesting girl students and media people at BHU. Strict action should be taken against culprits and police officers responsible for this (sic).
I condemn the use of brutal force against protesting students in #BanarasHinduUniversity.Is this how BJP wants to empower women?? #BHU pic.twitter.com/xenwzXCt8T Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) September 24, 2017
On September 1, the first-year student complained of harassment by some unknown men. The protesting students have claimed that BHU guards didnt help the victim and instead questioned her for roaming outside the hostel after 6pm.
Ironically, the girls continued with their protests even as Prime Minister praised Yogi Adityanaths six months in power, who had started the anti-Romeo squads to protect women from harassment.
The September 1 incident was not the first of its kind and cases of eve-teasing have been even reported earlier as well. An Arts student was allegedly ragged by seniors soon after and on September 20, some threw stones at the new girls hostel.
The successive incidents, along with a lack of apathy of the university authorities, led to the protests picking up ahead of the Prime Ministers Varanasi visit.
The university administration, however, termed the protests as politically motivated. Professor O N Singh, Chief Proctor at BHU, said, Efforts are being made to restore normalcy on campus and ensure safety of the students.
BHU, Public Relations Officer Rajesh Singh said, Anti-social elements along with these girls, who are not university students, gathered outside the vice-chancellor's lodge in the night.
I have no idea how those sitting on dharna received injuries. Some anti-social elements even tried to break the gates of Mahila Mahavidyalaya.
Mediapersons protest against the violence at BHU.
Meanwhile, several students body organisations, in solidarity with the BHU students, staged a protest at the GPO in Lucknow on Sunday morning.
There were also reports of protests by some others at the official residence of CM Yogi Adityanath on Sunday against Saturday night's lathicharge.
WHAT HAPPENED SO FAR
The protests began on Thursday after a female student of Triveni hostel was allegedly molested by some men on motorbikes.
The student lodged a complaint with the office of the proctor, which is responsible for campus security. As per the sources, the chief proctor refused to act, while some officials allegedly tried to blame the student herself, wondering why she was out late in the evening.
Soon, students of the Triveni hostel sat on a dharna at BHU's Gate on Friday.
They wanted to meet the VC regarding the problem of eve teasing and harassment on BHU campus. However, the VC was not ready to meet all of them. Instead, the vice-chancellor's office wanted 4-5 girls to present their case, while the girls wanted to speak to the VC in front of everyone.
On Saturday evening, the VC, instead of meeting the protesting girls, went to Triveni Hostel to meet the rival group.
As soon as came to the fore, the girls were quick to realise that the VC was trying to break the movement and started raising slogans against the vice-chancellor.
Benaras Hindu University vice-chancellor Girish Chandra Tripathi has been in the eye of a storm ever since girl students at the university staged a protest demanding security after a girl was allegedly molested by a group of men. The protesting students have claimed that BHU guards didnt help the victim and instead questioned her for roaming outside the hostel after 6 pm.
Tripathi spoke to News18's Eram Agha about the entire incident and why, according to him, it is an attempt to malign the university.
Excerpts
1) The protesting girls complain that force was used to disperse the crowd. There is a lot of criticism coming your way for not being able to look into the demands of these students.
It is wrong to say lathi-charge took place on campus against the students of BHU. The force was used against those who were targeting innocent people with petrol bombs, and they are not the students of our varsity. Those people are outsiders who are trying to malign the name of the university and disturb the peace on campus. There are 30,000 students on campus and at a time one lakh people are present here. Just a handful of them presents anywhere cannot be called BHU students. Let me tell you that even if there were some students protesting, not a single class was disturbed.
With just a few people present, it cannot be called BHU protests. Those students who are present at protests are playing into the hands of those with ulterior motives. I dont accept this. Universities are not the ground for practicing politics.
2) Your campus doesnt even have student union bodies or any other democratic form of representation. Does this go with the idea of a university?
We have formed a committee to look into the form of student representation we can have in BHU. We will come up with an alternative. We have to see things differently, as we are a different campus. We value Madan Mohan Malviyas principles, our founder, and he was against politics on campus.
3) What are the principles of Madan Mohan Malviya that you endorse?
His idea of a university was that it was for nation-building and not career-building. This university was set up with cooperation from all quarters and communities it was for the people and not for politics. Let me narrate this to you. When Mahatma Gandhi gave a call for Satyagraha, he met Madan Mohan Malviya, but our founder expressed his differences with the call. He told Bapu that these are young minds. If you call them, they will join you, but tomorrow, if someone calls for something wrong, they might go for that also.
What do you see on campuses today? These students are going to every party. There are various student wings functioning in universities Shiksha ka swaroop bigad raha hai. Samaj ko sudharna hai and responsible people have to come together.
4) The girl students we spoke to alleged blatant gender bias on campus.
Show me the evidence. There is no single rule on campus that applies to girls but does not apply to boys. This is a propaganda of few against our university. If girls are not allowed to take part in political events, then even boys are not allowed to do that. In fact, I am looking towards revisiting the security plan of my campus. I am going to look into the shortcomings and involve my university girl students in it. They will be a part of the plan.
5) The university is going on a semester break, what are you going to do next in the alleged sexual harassment case?
We have formed a high-powered committee to probe the entire incident. Once the findings are out, we will bring it in public domain. As a Vice-Chancellor I take the moral responsibility for what happened, but I will also make sure that the probe is conducted, also to investigate if there was any a need to give this unfortunate incident a political turn. A girl suffered and others used it as a weapon for politics. This is not acceptable.
6) What evidence do you have to corroborate that this was the work of outsiders on campus?
Two days ago, there were people who painted with black ink the statue of Madan Mohan Malviya. I can say it with confidence that no BHU student will ever do this. Students are young and as the youth, they are in search for truth and justice, but some people are trying to exploit them for their own political benefits.
New Delhi: A day ahead of the BJP National Executive in Delhi, the partys national office bearers, including President Amit Shah, are meeting on Sunday to finalise the agenda for the day-long conclave.
All party lawmakers have been invited to the 'extended executive' meeting on Monday, which will end with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's valedictory address.
In his speech, the Prime Minister is widely expected to dispel concerns over the economy and lay down his government's economic, political agenda.
The meeting also marks the culmination of the year-long celebrations of RSS ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay.
Close to 1,400 MLAs, 337 MPs and all MLCs, besides its core group leaders from states, are among those expected on Monday.
With the opposition parties attacking the government's handling of the economy, by citing the fall in GDP rate and demonetisation figures, Modi is expected to take them on and highlight his dispensation's "successes" in boosting transparency and curbing black money, party sources told PTI.
BJP sources said the party's resolution is likely to assert that the economy has been doing better under the NDA than it did under the previous UPA government.
The rollout of the GST has been described by the party as a major success of the government which, it has asserted, will integrate the country economy.
The prime minister's agenda of development will also be a key feature. A senior party leader said the issue of Rohingya immigrants, whom the government has termed a threat to security, may also find a mention.
With the government and the party embracing Upadhyay's plank of 'antyodaya' (upliftment of the last man), the executive is expected to cite a number of measures taken by the Union and the BJP-ruled states for the poor's welfare.
(With Inputs from PTI)
New Delhi: Fighter jets, drone deals and shared concerns over Afghanistan's security look set to dominate the agenda when US Defense Secretary James Mattis visits India this week.
Mattis is scheduled to arrive late Monday and is set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in the first visit by a top US official since Donald Trump became president in January.
"The United States views India as a valued and influential partner, with broad mutual interests extending well beyond South Asia," a Pentagon statement said.
Trump and Modi met in June in Washington and the visit by Mattis is a sign "the political leadership in both countries place defence cooperation as a top priority", Mukesh Aghi, president of the US India Strategic Partnership Forum, told AFP.
Delhi and Washington share concerns about Afghanistan, with Trump announcing a new strategy for the war-torn country last month which cleared the way for the deployment of thousands more US troops.
The president has urged India to increase assistance to Afghanistan's economy, and has lambasted Pakistan for offering safe haven to "agents of chaos".
Mattis, the Pentagon chief, "will express US appreciation for India's important contributions toward Afghanistan's democracy, stability, prosperity, and security", the Pentagon said.
Experts are not expecting any Indian boots on the ground, though there may be some role for Indian military expertise in supporting the US-led training and advisory mission with Afghan security forces.
India has built dams, roads and a new parliament in the troubled country. Last year it offered some $1 billion in aid. Delhi has also accused Islamabad of stirring up violence in Afghanistan and harbouring militant groups.
ARMS SALES
In 2016 the United States designated India a "Major Defence Partner" with the aim of increasing military cooperation and cutting red tape to ease defence deals.
Mattis's predecessor Ashton Carter pushed hard for stronger defence ties and the Trump administration has not signalled any intention of changing course on this.
Trump has praised India for contributing to regional peace and stability and for buying US military equipment.
Mattis is likely to seek to persuade India to buy Lockheed Martin's F-16 Block 70 aircraft in a deal potentially worth $15 billion.
Lockheed Martin has offered the most upgraded version of the jet fighter to India, the world's largest weapons importer.
The US manufacturer is competing with Swedish defence giant Saab, whose Gripen E made its maiden flight in June.
India has said it needs at least 100 single-engine fighters to counter the growing air threat posed by China and Pakistan.
Saab and Lockheed have both offered to build the jets locally to comply with Modi's "Make-in-India" initiative, which aims to cut imports and build a domestic defence industry.
US giant Boeing has also offered to set up a plant in India for production of its F/A 18 Super Hornet aircraft if it wins a deal.
A drone deal for the Indian Navy will also likely be up for discussion, a source familiar with the negotiations told AFP.
"Since Chinese assets have started to dominate the Indian Ocean region, the Trump administration is keen on fast-tracking the acquisition of the drones," the source said.
Many commentators have said that US-India cooperation is crucial to countering an increasingly assertive China, which has been developing its military capabilities in the Asia-Pacific.
But Afghanistan will be front and centre when Mattis meets Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who will host her highest-level foreign delegation since being appointed earlier this month.
The visit comes as the Indian army takes part in a two-week joint military training exercise in the United States to forge closer ties on counter-insurgency, regional security operations and peacekeeping.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modis constituency, Varanasi, is simmering with tension. Several girls, protesting against the alleged molestation of a fellow student, were lathicharged on Saturday night.
Yet, the girls at Banaras Hindu University believe, the fight has just begun.
The girls are upset with Vice-Chancellor GC Tripathi, who failed to keep his promise of meeting them. Moreover, Tripathi was reportedly upset after some of the girls smeared a statue of Madan Mohan Malviya with black ink. The protesting girls are upset that he was bothered with the ink and not police violence.
I was part of the delegation that met the V-C. He had all the security around him. He had police and CRPF at his disposal, yet, he felt unsafe because of our protests and didn't meet us, said Shivani Chaubey, an English Honours student.
She added, Tripathi told us that he was upset with protesters smearing Malviyas statue with black ink. It is shocking that for our administration, girls being lathicharged is acceptable over black ink on a statue. He didn't prioritise us or our demands.
The university administration has now called for an early semester break and the students will be vacating the hostels by Sunday evening.
University spokesperson Rajesh Singh told News18 that the issue is being politicised and the "sensitive hostels will be vacated".
It all started when the BHU students sat on a peaceful protest against victim-shaming and were demanding action against the culprits who had allegedly molested a Triveni Hostel resident.
On Saturday night, the campus "saw the unexpected" and students were lathicharged. Many were injured and taken to the trauma centre.
News18 spoke to some of the girls who were a part of the delegation that tried to meet the V-C. Many said that the incident was waiting to happen as security of the girls is compromised here.
Adding to the issue, Shivani said, We dont have equal access to the library because we have to return to our hostels by 8 pm and the library is open till 11 pm. This is unequal access to resources. Girls are not given non-vegetarian food because it is against Malviya Mulaya (principles of Madan Mohan Malviya), but is lathicharging the same girls part of these ideals?
Chaubey was beaten up and her back is hurting. She will be leaving the campus with injuries.
BSc student Swati Singh said, Stalking, eve-teasing is a daily problem here. We want the administration to hear us and we will have to wait now as the campus is going on a break and we will have to vacate the hostels.
Reacting to the protests, V-C Tripathi said it was "motivated". He said, We have formed a high-level investigation committee to probe the incident and they will submit a report within a week. Yesterdays incident was tragic and it was a planned keeping in mind PM Modis visit in Varanasi.
The BHU administration has said that these protests are politically motivated and timed with PM's visit. Condemning the universitys stand, BSc student Mineshi Mishra said, There is no political angle to our protest, neither do we have a student body election.
She added, Yet, I see a positive change. The girls who would passively acknowledge the daily sexism here, are now desperate to fight against it. Since there are no active democratic bodies in BHU, many had given in to the normalization of sexism. This time we have women from across political ideologies coming together and the solidarity is strong.
Rajesh Singh said, All these allegations are baseless and we provide security to the girl students. The action that was taken last night was to keep away the outsiders who are playing politics here. We are shortlisting the sensitive hostels where outsiders come and cause disharmony. These hostels would be vacated.
United Nations: United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and praised India's contribution in the world body's efforts towards sustainable development, peace operations and tackling climate change.
The meeting took place on Saturday after Swaraj delivered her second annual consecutive address to the UN General Assembly sessions here.
She was accompanied by Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin during the meeting.
"The secretary-general expressed appreciation for India's contributions to the United Nations on climate action, peace operations and sustainable development," a readout of the meeting issued by Guterres' office said.
During the meeting, the UN chief welcomed India's efforts to implement the '2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals', it said.
"They also discussed the importance of UN reforms," the readout said.
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Saturday invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) against garbage contractors and sanitation workers employed under them following complaints that they were not discharging their duties.
The garbage problem has turned worse in the city recently as the contractors have allegedly stopped removing the waste, causing a huge pileup that has left many important places stinking and brought the city civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike in the line of fire, a state government notification said.
Following complaints, the government imposed ESMA on the garbage contractors and sanitation workers for a year directing them to ensure that waste is removed from the city, it said.
They have been directed toensure that the workers, known as Paurakarmikas, auto-tipper drivers, compactor loaders and others working under them to work without fail.
Meanwhile, the Environment Support Group, fighting for the cause of Paurakarmikas, said in a release that the workers, mainly daily wagers, known as'contract Pourakarmikas,' were showing up for work.
"But they are being threatened, abused, blocked and turned away from work by the private contractors who are on strike protesting the decision to end their corrupt and highly exploitative privatised solid waste management system," it said.
Meanwhile, alleging a "mega garbage scam" involving an amount of Rs 688 crore in the civic body here, the city unit of the BJP on Saturday lodged a complaint with the Lokayukta and Anti-Corruption Bureau against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and minister K J George.
N R Ramesh, the BJP city unit spokesperson, has also lodged a complaint with the Bengaluru Metropolitan Task Force and in the court of the additional chief metropolitan magistrate here over the alleged scam.
He claimed that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)had spent Rs 1,066 crore on waste disposal in the 2016-17 financial year, whereas its expenditure on that count in the previous financial year (2015-16) was Rs 385 crore.
"There is a steep rise of Rs 688 crore in the spending on waste disposal. The monthly spending on solid waste management (SWM) now is Rs 88.87 crore. Thus, the BBMP will once again spend Rs 1,066.44 crore by this (2017-18) financial year-end. It is almost a 265-per cent increase," Ramesh said.
He further explained that though the difference between Rs 1066.44 crore and Rs 385 crore was Rs 681.44 crore, the amount involved in the alleged scam was Rs 688 crore on account of other irregularities in the BBMP.
Siddaramaiah and George, the minister for Bengaluru development and town planning, were not available for comments.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on the third anniversary of his Mann ki Baat radio programme, saying an ideological movement is needed to make cleanliness a norm across the country. During the address, the PM also lauded Kashmiri youth Bilal Dar for cleaning up Wular lake in Bandipora district of north Kashmir. He also congratulated Lt. Swati Mahadik and Lt. Nidhi Dubey, widows of martyrs, on joining the Indian Army.
Heres a recap:
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Yangon: Myanmar's army said Sunday it had discovered a mass grave containing the bodies of 28 Hindus, including women and children, in violence-wracked Rakhine state, blaming the killings on Muslim Rohingya militants.
Thousands of Hindus have fled villages where they once lived alongside Muslims, alleging that they were targeted by militants whose August 25 raids plunged Rakhine into communal violence.
The announcement could not be independently verified in a region where access has been tightly controlled by Myanmar's army.
Security members found and dug up 28 dead bodies of Hindus who were cruelly and violently killed by ARSA extremist Bengali terrorists in Rakhine State," a statement posted on the army chief's website said.
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) is the group whose attacks on police posts triggered an army backlash so brutal that the UN believes it amounts to ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority.
More than 430,000 Rohingya have fled the region to Bangladesh in under a month, telling stories of Myanmar soldiers teaming up with vigilante mobs to slaughter civilians and burn entire villages to the ground.
Around 30,000 Hindus and Buddhists based in the area have also been displaced by the violence.
Both communities have told AFP they were terrorised by Rohingya militants.
Corpses in rows
The army said that security officers found a total of 20 dead women and eight men in two graves, including six boys under the age of ten. A strong smell led security officers to the burial site outside of Ye Baw Kya village, the army said.
Unverifiable photos published by the government's Information Committee showed corpses laid out in rows on grass near two mud pits where they were found.
Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay confirmed the grim discovery to AFP, as did a senior police officer in Rakhine who requested anonymity.
The village where the bodies were found, Ye Baw Kya, lies near a cluster of Hindu and Muslim communities in northern Rakhine called Kha Maung Seik.
Last week, Hindus from the area told AFP that militants swept into their villages on August 25 with sticks and knives, attacking people who stood in their way, killing many and taking others into the forest.
Hindu women are believed to have been abducted by the militants.
The grim discovery of the graves will further fuel already white-hot hatred between ethnic groups in Myanmar.
The epicentre of the unrest, in northern Rakhine, is dominated by Rohingya Muslims who are a minority elsewhere and have been the target of decades of state-backed persecution and discrimination.
Around half of their estimated 1.1 million population has fled over the last year.
Northern Rakhine is also home to ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, Hindus and a myriad of other groups.
Religious tensions have simmered for years, erupting into sporadic bouts of violence. But the scale of the latest unrest is the worst to hit the region in years.
While the wretched lines of Rohingya streaming into Bangladesh have shocked and alarmed the world, there is scant sympathy for the Muslim group inside Myanmar.
Many in the Buddhist majority view the group as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite their long-established roots in the country.
New Delhi: Pakistan on Sunday brandished the photo of a woman with facial injuries at the United Nations General Assembly on Sunday. The countrys Permanent Representative to the UN Maleeha Lodhi claimed the woman was a victim of pellet gun injury in Kashmir.
The claim, it turns out, was a blatant lie.
The woman in the photo is Rawya abu Joma, who was injured in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City in 2014. The critically-acclaimed photo of a then 17-year-old Rawya was taken on July 22, 2014 by award-winning photojournalist Heidi Levine, who is based in Jerusalem.
The photo was also tweeted on March 27, 2015 by Dr Ramy Abdu, whose bio on his verified Twitter account says he is the founder of Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.
Rawya Abu Joma was wounded during the 2014 war in #Gaza. Credit: Heidi Levine # pic.twitter.com/WGCctdCZwS Dr. Ramy Abdu (@RamAbdu) March 27, 2015
While holding up the photo from her chair at the General Assembly, Maleeha Lodhi said, This, Mr President, is the face of Indias democracy."
Lodhis gaffe came as she was replying to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj speech to the world body, where the latter asked Pakistan to introspect why it was lagging in growth.
In her address to the 72nd UN General Assembly session, Swaraj accused Pakistan of waging a war against India and said a country that has been the world's greatest exporter of havoc, death and inhumanity became a champion of hypocrisy by preaching about humanity from this podium.
"I would like today to tell Pakistan's politicians just this much, that perhaps the wisest thing they could do is to look within. India and Pakistan became free within hours of each other. Why is it that today India is a recognised IT superpower in the world, and Pakistan is recognised only as the pre-eminent export factory for terror?" Swaraj asked.
Speaking in Hindi for the second consecutive year at the annual UNGA session, Swaraj said India has risen despite being the principal destination of Pakistan's nefarious export of terrorism.
"We produced scientists, scholars, doctors, engineers. What have you produced? You have produced terrorists... you have created terrorist camps, you have created Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahideen and Haqqani network," she said, adding that if Pakistan had spent on its development what it has spent on developing terror, both Pakistan and the world would be safer and better-off today.
Congress leader Raj Babbar was detained on Sunday evening to stop him from going to the Banaras Hindu University as the clashes at the campus turned into a political slugfest. The police has also detained 14 protesting students to quell the unrest, officials said.
The protests that started on Saturday night at the BHU campus have also reached Delhi as the Congress youth wing, National Students Union of India, launched a protest in solidarity with the students of BHU.
A number of students, including women, and two journalists were injured in lathicharge by the police on Saturday night. Violence had erupted after some students, protesting against an alleged harassment incident of Thursday, wanted to meet the Vice Chancellor at his residence last night, according to police and university sources.
NSUI members protest in the Capital on Sunday. (Photo: VJ Niraj/News18)
The security guards of the university stopped them and the police was informed, according to the university sources. Police used force to control the situation.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath sought a report from Divisional Commissioner as various political parties criticized the government.
Leading the condemnation of the police action was Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who slammed the BJP for the lathicharge. BJP version of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao in BHU," he tweeted, attaching a video link of the students who alleged that they were beaten up by male policemen at the campus.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav also condemned the lathicharge of the students. The government should resolve the issue by talks, not by lathicharge. It is condemnable. Action should be taken against the guilty, Akhilesh tweeted.
United Nations: Hitting out at Pakistan for creating terror groups like LeT, JeM, Hizbul Mujahideen and the Haqqani Network, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday asked the nation's leaders to introspect as to why it has become infamous as the pre-eminent export factory for terror while India has been recognised as a global IT superpower.
In her address to the 72nd UN General Assembly session, Swaraj accused Pakistan of waging a war against India. She said a country that has been the world's greatest exporter of havoc, death and inhumanity became a champion of hypocrisy by preaching about humanity from this podium.
She was referring to Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's speech on Thursday in which he had accused India of state-sponsored terrorism and violating human rights.
I would like to tell Pakistan's politicians just this much, that perhaps the wisest thing they could do is to look within. India and Pakistan became free within hours of each other. Why is it that today India is a recognised IT superpower in the world, and Pakistan is recognised only as the pre-eminent export factory for terror?" Swaraj asked.
India had ripped into Pakistan on Friday, describing it as "terroristan" and a land of "pure terror" that hosts a flourishing industry to produce and export global terrorism.
Speaking in Hindi for the second consecutive year at the annual UNGA session, Swaraj said India has risen despite being the principal destination of Pakistan's nefarious export of terrorism.
"There have been many governments under many parties during 70 years of Indian freedom, for we have been a sustained democracy. Every government has done its bit for Indias development," she said, highlighting India's achievements in the fields of education, health, space etc.
"We established scientific and technical institutions which are the pride of the world. But what has Pakistan offered to the world and indeed to its own people apart from terrorism?" she said.
"We produced scientists, scholars, doctors, engineers. What have you produced? You have produced terrorists... you have created terrorist camps, you have created Lashkar-e- Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahideen and Haqqani network," she said, adding that if Pakistan had spent on its development what it has spent on developing terror, both Pakistan and the world would be safer and better-off today.
She said the terrorist groups created by Pakistan is not only harming India, but also hurting its neighbours Afghanistan and Bangladesh. She said that for the first time in the UN history, Pakistan sought right to reply and then it had to simultaneously respond to three nations.
"Doesn't it reflect your nefarious designs," she asked the Pakistani leader.
Referring to Prime Minister Abbasi's speech, Swaraj said that the Pakistani leader "wasted" too much of his time in making accusations against India.
"Those listening had only one observation: 'Look who's talking!' A country that has been the world's greatest exporter of havoc, death and inhumanity became a champion of hypocrisy by preaching about humanity from this podium," Swaraj said.
Commenting on Abbasi's claim that Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah had bequeathed a foreign policy based on peace and friendship, Swaraj said while it remains open to question whether Jinnah actually advocated such principles, what is beyond doubt is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has offered the hand of peace and friendship since he assumed office.
"Pakistan's Prime Minister must answer why his nation spurned this offer," she said.
On old UN resolutions mentioned by Abbasi, Swaraj said that the Pakistani leader's memory has conveniently failed him where it matters.
"He has forgotten that under the Shimla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration India and Pakistan resolved that they would settle all outstanding issues bilaterally. The reality is that Pakistans politicians remember everything, manipulate memory into a convenience. They are masters at 'forgetting' facts that destroy their version," Swaraj said in a hard-hitting response to Pakistani prime minister's speech.
Noting that Abbasi spoke of a "Comprehensive Dialogue" between the two countries, Swaraj reminded him that on December 9, 2015, when she was in Islamabad for the Heart of Asia conference, a decision was made by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that dialogue between India and Pakistan should be renewed and named it a "Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue".
"The word 'bilateral' was used consciously to remove any confusion or doubt about the fact that the proposed talks would be between our two nations and only between our two nations, without any third-party present. And he must answer why that proposal withered, because Pakistan is responsible for the aborting that peace process," Swaraj said.
Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government is considering changes to the primary school syllabus and increasing the number of teachers to improve the quality of education at the elementary level.
UP's Basic Education Minister Anupama Jaiswal said the Yogi Adityanath government was committed to improving the quality of education in government primary schools.
She hoped primary school students would give pupils of the private ones a run for their money if the infrastructure was improved, some changes were made to the syllabus and the number of teachers was increased.
Jaiswal told PTI that there had been a paradigm shift in the quality of education imparted at government primary schools.
"The teachers who would keep themselves from teaching activities have started taking classes. The trend of outsourcing teaching activities has been effectively curbed," she said.
"There has been a spurt in enrollments. More than 10 lakh children have enrolled (since the BJP government came to office). The increase in enrollments reflects that we have been able to bring children back to schools," the minister said.
The BJP government deliberated on why government primary schools were lagging behind. A decision was taken to strengthen "School Chalo Abhiyaan" and the government also came up with the "Khoob Padho, Aage Badho" campaign to ensure that every child goes to school, she said.
Jaiswal said students of various government schools were given uniforms and it would instill confidence in them. "In some cases, parents insisted that their children study in government primary schools even if it entails sitting on the floor, which is a positive sign," she said.
The basic education minister said there was a proposal to develop schools on the public-private partnership model. "Innovations in schools in terms of teaching and other activities are being encouraged to give an opportunity to students to showcase their talent," she said.
"MLA, MPs and other public representatives are adopting schools. At some places, even government officials are teaching students," the minister said.
Cuba, 19th Century. Fortified with bottles of Canchanchara strapped to their saddles, the mambises (Cuban guerrilla soldiers) led by Antonio Maceo, were a strong force to be reckoned with.
Canchanchara, made of rum, lime juice and honey (Cuban molasses) was not only a thirst quencher, but it was also an excellent pain killer for the guerrillas fighting against the Spanish for their independence.
Ask the 63-year-old American General William Shafter who was choking the Spanish forces from the sea. The first thing he demanded after landing on the docks of Daiquiri bay in Cuba, with 17,000 troops, was a taste of Cuban rebellion.
He wiped his lips and declared: The only missing ingredient is ice!
No! There were more.
Canchanchara was a killer cocktail made to buoy up the flailing spirits of rebellion. But the drink was yet to reach the pinnacle of perfection. What it needed now was a little more punch. A few more tweaks. And perhaps a few more ingredients which would help it take over the world as one of Cubas finest exports. However, it had to wait.
But for how long?
It had to wait until the historic day a bartender in Havana would see a great writer walking into his bar and challenging him to make a drink for him that could not hurt his diabetes. With all the sugar in Canchanchara, that would definitely be a tall order.
Meanwhile, FD Pagliuchi, war correspondent of Harpers monthly and commander in the Liberating Army of Cuba reported to his newspaper how he was treated with a curious cocktail by a mining engineer Jennings S Cox Jr when he visited him deep in his mine in Daiquiri (14 miles east of Santiago de Cuba).
Hey, what the heck is this?
Cox was told that the drink was a collage of Bacardi, lemon, sugar and ice. That was one step of mutation forward from that old drink (Canchanchara) which boosted the spirits of Cuban revolutionary army fighting the Spanish.
It tasted awesome.
When Pagliuchi asked Cox the name of this curious concoction, the engineer modestly replied: it was erehmRum Sour. He had in mind, the popular Whisky Sour which was made in the same fashion, with the same ingredients except for the whisky.
Cmon! This name is very long. Why not call it Daiquiri?
That got stuck.
Daiquiri is the name of the place. The drink found in its mines must be carrying the spirit of the place, Pagliuchi reasoned. Demands for the drink were steadily building up in various bars in Havana.
One particular bar, La Floridita in 1918 in Havana was recently taken over by Constantino Ribalaigua Vert. Pretty soon the versatile Constantino spun out six different versions of Daiquiri including the famous Floridita Daiquiri.
But the best was yet to be.
One day the legendary writer, Ernest Hemingway, checked into room 511 at the Hotel Ambos Mundos in Havana, a little away from La Floridita. He had already gone through the horrors of Spanish civil war; he must now settle down in a peaceful town to complete his novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls.
One morning he took a long walk, dropped into La Floridita and asked Constantine whether he could have Daiquiri.
Constantine smiled. But the writer had one condition. Despite the assurances given by physicians he knew he had diabetes. So Daiquiri, which was cooked up with Rum, sugar and other ingredients, should not worsen his condition.
Constantines smile vanished. He thought hard for a second. Then he took out a glass and poured a double dose of Cuban Rum into it instead of one and threw in all the other ingredients except sugar.
Daiquiri without sugar! It was blasphemy!
Hemingway took his first sip of the newly-born drink handed over to him, ran it in his mouth, swallowed it and finally nodded his head, with half a smile. Yeah. He was pleased with the liquid. Since then every morning, Hemingway turned up at La Floridita in bermudas, short sleeved shirts and espadrilles, settled down on the same bar-stool and sipped a couple of drinks, watching his characters pass by along the street. In the evening the writer would come back once again to take a dozen more before he ambled back to the hotel merrily.
Even after he moved to his home, Hemingway never failed to drop by, as the drink had now become his muse. Sometimes he took it home in a thermos bottle calling the nourishment, his viaticum (provisions for the journey).
In his posthumously published novel, Islands in the Stream he sings:
He was drinking another frozen Daiquiri with no sugar in it and as he lifted it, heavy and the glass frost-rimmed, he looked at the clear part bellowed the frappe-ed top and it reminded him of the sea. The frappe-ed part of the drink was like the wake of a ship and the clear part was the way the water looked when the bow cut when you were in shallow water over marl bottom. That was almost the exact colour.
Later Constantine perfected the expression by squirting a little grape juice and Maraschino liqueur to the drink and immortalised his invention by calling it Papa Doble alias the Hemingway Special.
(Manu Remakant is a freelance writer who also runs a video blog - A Cup of Kavitha - introducing world poetry to Malayalees. Views expressed here are personal)
Model Adriana Lima spends her days off applying mascara "over and over and over" and loves watching it trickle down her face in the shower.
"My favourite thing is applying mascara. I love mascara on the eyes. I like it to be very black, and I like when you just apply lots of layers. So on my days off, I just apply over and over and over. When I shower, the mascara runs over my skin, I wipe it off, and I apply it on top again. I absolutely love it," Lima told InStyle magazine, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
She also confessed to having a "disgusting" beauty habit, which involves smearing her hair with avocado, but she insists the results are worth it.
Lima said: "You guys are going to think this is disgusting. People don't understand. I tend to really take care of my hair, but it's very dry, so I do hair masks. You choose whatever is your favorite conditioner or hair mask, whatever, and then you take one avocado -- I am not joking.
"You mash the avocado, you mix with whatever conditioner you have, you put it on your hair, and you put on a shower cap for like 15 minutes. When you wash it off, your hair is gonna be shiny, shiny, shiny!"
Just a day after its critically lauded release and its selection as India's official entry for Oscars, Newton has landed itself into a controversy. Amid all the good news, the Rajkummar Rao starrer has allegedly been plagiarised from Iranian film Secret Ballot.
In a report by NDTV, it has been said that Newton has an uncanny similarity with an Iranian film where the protagonist is an earnest polling officer who is sent to a remote area during the time of elections. The polling officer, just like Newton, does everything to ensure a higher turnout but is constantly demotivated by the security in-charge.
The director of the film, Amit V Masurkar told IANS that he was completely unaware of Secret Ballot and that people should watch both the films and compare to find out if they are copied.
Newton has been chosen as India's official selection for Oscars 2018. It focuses on the life of a ballot officer who visits a barren and desolate place to plead with voters to cast their votes and take part in the elections.
Asked if he was inspired by the Iranian film, Masurkar said, "I wrote the story in 2013 and after that, for eight months I along with Mayank (Tiwari, the screenplay writer) worked on the script.
"The intention of the story is to talk about a section of the population in our democracy who has a desire to vote but how, under which situation, missed out on the equal rights. The story was born from my heart. I had no idea about 'Secret Ballot'."
The director added, "I think two days before the shooting started, someone told me if I watched that Iranian film. I went through some of the clippings online and our film has no similarities to that.
Newton had its world premiere at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival and won the International Confederation of Art Cinemas Award for best film in the 'Forum Section'.
Masurkar says that the film has been watched by several critics.
"The film has travelled to 40 countries. Audiences and critics have watched it across. They could have said that then... they haven't because it is a different film. I think people should watch the film to compare and find out if my film is copied from that one ('Secret Ballot')," Masurkar said.
Amidst these allegations, filmmaker Jaideep Varma shared his thoughts about the entire situation on his social media. He wrote, "Secret Ballot is much more minimalistic and meditative compared to Newton and while their basic premise is similar, the rest of them go to very different places. The similarity between certain characters or rather characteristics in certain people is actually very logical within the context of their respective trajectories."
Newton, which stars National Award-winning actor Rajkummar Rao, revolves around a government employee who struggles to supervise voting in a forest area of Chhattisgarh, controlled by Maoists.
(With Inputs from IANS)
Hyderabad: A city court here on Saturday sent Bollywood producer Karim Morani to judicial custody for 14 days in a rape case.
Morani surrendered to police late on Friday night in connection with the alleged rape of a 25-year-old aspiring actress, hours after the Supreme Court dismissed his plea for anticipatory bail.
The Chennai Express producer surrendered at the Hayathnagar police station on the city's outskirts around midnight. He was formally placed under arrest.
Morani was later produced before a magistrate, who remanded him to judicial custody till October 6. He was lodged in Cherlapally jail on the city outskirts.
The Delhi-based woman alleged that Morani raped her on the pretext of marrying her. She alleged that Morani took her nude pictures and videos and sexually exploited her by threatening to post the same on social media.
The police had booked him in January on charges of rape, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, and cheating.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Morani's petition challenging the Hyderabad High Court's verdict cancelling his bail. The apex court directed him to surrender.
The High Court on September 5 had upheld the decision of the sessions court cancelling Morani's bail.
Morani was booked for cheating, rape, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and cohabitation caused by a man deceitfully inducing a belief of marriage under the Indian Penal Code.
The complainant alleged that Morani raped her in Mumbai and also at a film studio in Hyderabad in 2015 after promising to marry her.
The woman, who had done her Bachelor of Business Management (BBA) from Delhi, said she had met Morani through his daughter, who was also a theatre artiste in Mumbai.
The producer, however, had denied the allegations. Morani said the complaint was filed with the sole intention of tarnishing his reputation and image.
The producer's name had also figured as an accused in the 2G spectrum scam. He was accused of helping channel funds to the tune of Rs 200 crore to popular Tamil television channel Kalaignar TV.
Mumbai: Rajkummar Rao is excited as his new film Newton has been announced as India's official entry for the Oscars. The actor says that he will call superstar Aamir Khan for the advice on its promotion.
When asked about his team strategy to promote Newton at the Oscars, Rajkummar said: "It's just got announced and its too soon to decide but our team is going to meet and we will plan something about it because there has to be strategy. We will be going to America to promote the film."
He was present at the GQ Men of the Year Award on Friday night.
When reporters asked Rajkummar whether he is going to get some guidance from Aamir Khan about film promotion at the Oscars, he said, "Off course, I will definitely call him and meet him because Lagaan was there at the Oscars and we are really proud of the film. so I am sure Aamir sir will help us a lot."
Rajkummar attended the event along with girlfriend Patralekha who seems excited about the film too
"I am very thrilled. Newton is a film that should get in top five films at the Oscars because it's really good and relevant and shows different side of India," she said.
Newton revolves around Newton Kumar, a rookie government clerk who is sent on election duty to a naxal-controlled town in the conflict-ridden jungles of Chhattisgarh, India. It has been directed by Amit V Masurkar.
Thiruvananthapuram: The Jimikki Kammal song, which took the internet by storm, from the movie 'Velipadinte Pusthakam', finally saw its lead actor Mohanlal shaking a leg to its tunes. In a video shared by Mohanlal on his Facebook page, the actor expressed gratitude to his fans for making the song such a huge hit.
The actor wrote: "The song that got everybody dancing has made me take a few steps. Here is my version of Jimmiki Kammal, with the participants from dance challenge and Velipadinte Pusthakam."
The actor enters the scene while other participants are busy dancing and conversing. Mohanlal, dressed in red shirt and white traditional south Indian dhoti, had people enthralled. The actor then folds his dhoti to his knees, his fellow dancers take their positions behind him, and the group hits the dance floor.
The trippy dance number which is already a rage in Tamil Nadu and Kerala has reached all parts of India, thanks to its catchy tune and beats. Some fans even called it the 'Despacito' of Tamil Nadu.
The video became a rage after a user tweeted the song tagging the popular TV talk show host Jimmy Kimmel for the similarity between the title of the song and Kimmel's name. He had replied, saying he hadn't heard the song until then, and appreciated the catchy number.
New Delhi: Digvijaya Singh never breaks a vow. Routed by Sanyasin Uma Bharti in 2003, Diggy Raja took 10-year sanyas from electoral politics.
The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister returned to the Rajya Sabha in 2014. In those 10 years of sanyas and thereafter, in Parliament or outside, Digvijaya Singh as Congresss chief brand ambassador to the minorities has managed to eke out a space for himself in national discourse.
The jury is still out on how much the Congress Party has benefitted from Digvijaya Singhs regular interventions. Opinions vary on whether his Osama ji gaffe in 2011 brought tangible gains to the Grand Old Party or whether it polarised the majority towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Earlier this year, the Goa setback, wherein the Congress failed to form the government even after emerging as the single largest party, gave enough ammunition to his adversaries.
Fellow Madhya Pradesh leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi was most vocal of the lot. Digvijaya Singh has since been relieved of his duties as in-charge of both Goa and poll-bound Karnataka.
But then, come debacle or victory, one cant keep Diggy Raja out of the mainstream narrative for long. Some leaders have an uncanny knack to remain afloat.
The latest parikrama which Digvijaya Singh now plans to embark upon this month-end is being keenly watched both by friends and foes.
In political circles, it is being seen as a deep dive by the Raja of Raghogarh to remain buoyant. Its ripples, however, are being felt across the political spectrum.
Starting September 30, Singh will start a 3,000-km circumambulation of the Narmada river. This parikrama will be spread over the next six months. In the process, the Congress will be touching more than a 100 Assembly segments in Madhya Pradesh.
Its a holy walk which Digvijaya Singh claims to have been planning for two decades now. But the timing of it now, when Congress is to finalise its leadership for MP elections slated for next year, has raised eyebrows.
One of the many decisions party vice-president Rahul Gandhi has to take after he is back from the US is to decide who will lead the electoral charge in Madhya Pradesh. Its a choice between Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia with the balance tipping in favour of the latter.
Is this yatra, which is non-political and state-wide, his way of trying to be relevant? Not at all. I have been wanting to do it since 1998, he says.
The yatra will begin from Barman Ghat in Narsinghpur district of the state. Its the heart of the state and was an important place for the Congress movement during freedom struggle.
Digvijaya has his fair share of enemies and many of his colleagues accuse him of wanting to disrupt a narrative being built to challenge 15 years of BJP hegemony in the state.
Singh rubbishes the allegations. Those who accuse me should know that in my life two things are non-negotiable my loyalty to the Congress and its ideology, and my loyalty to the Nehru-Gandhi family, he tells News18.
No one really doubts Digvijaya Singhs loyalty quotient. The then MP chief minister stood firm in the face of a rebellion by Sharad Pawar and others. A protege of former HRD minister Arjun Singh, he imbibed and emulated his guru in many ways from strident anti-RSS position to social justice.
Many in the party feel that just as Arjun Singhs push for OBC politics didnt cut ice with then prime minister Manmohan Singh, the same seems to be happening to Digvijaya and his brand of minority politics.
Digvijaya Singh perhaps toed a line which suited the Congress high command at one point in time.
But a rout in 2014 made the Congress realise that this minority outreach had actually harmed it and was being seen as one of the reasons for the smashing defeat.
But then, Digvijaya Singh knows how to fight back and survive. Hes done that for a decade despite being in self-imposed exile from electoral politics. He takes a vow and never breaks it.
It is just that Congressmen and the BJP leaders are worried what pratigya (resolve), if any, he has taken this time around.
Using her grandmothers long-lost recipes, Singapore native Josey Chu spends more than eight hours making each batch of salty peanut myonya and other sauces.
Angel Torres and Leticia Flores, natives of Mexico, grow corn at a cooperative in Verona and use the grain to make organic tortillas at a community kitchen on the North Side, selling them at local farmers markets.
After her mother died from cancer, Madison native Jasmine Banks began to research the ingredients we put into our bodies and started making personal care products for herself and others and, with the encouragement of friends, now sells them on a small scale.
The city hopes these local entrepreneurs and 27 others will help forge the heart and soul of the coming, $14 million Madison Public Market.
Misunderstood by many, supporters say the market will be a crossroads of cultural diversity and entrepreneurship and benefit both budding and established businesses and be a prized destination for the community and visitors.
The city and its partners, through a vigorous outreach effort called MarketReady, have identified 30 ethnically diverse entrepreneurs who will receive special support as they prepare to grow their businesses into the market at the corner of East Washington Avenue and First Street.
The market will also include a Food Innovation Center that will let entrepreneurs prepare and distribute foods and further expand. The center will also offer workforce training and create opportunities to get local produce to schools, hospitals and other institutions.
Beyond that, the market will have spaces for music and programs, while a related, $30 million private development will offer restaurants, retail, housing and offices.
A special city committee will soon approve MarketReady participants, with many of them appearing at a Taste of the Market event next month. The Madison Public Market Foundation, created this spring and the likely operator, is adding board members and has named a 16-member advisory council. A private fundraising campaign to raise up to $5 million is beginning in earnest.
The merchants are the heart of our Public Market, said foundation board president Mayra Medrano. The market will not only foster an ecosystem for accelerating local businesses, but it will also be a unique community gathering place where we honor the different customs and history of Madisons many cultures through art, storytelling and delicious food.
If finances are secured, construction will begin next year and the market will open in late 2019.
A hub of activity
Championed by Mayor Paul Soglin, the Public Market is part of a larger redevelopment on property bounded by East Washington Avenue, First Street and Burr Jones Field thats owned by Steve Doran and Todd Waller. The parcel currently holds the Washington Plaza shopping center, which would be demolished.
The market will include a 35,000-square-foot Market Hall with vending and event space, the 15,000-square-foot Food Innovation Center, roughly 30,000 square feet of private restaurant and retail space, outdoor plazas with seating, a childrens play area and underground parking.
The centerpiece, Market Hall, will mix developing businesses with established ones including some household names to be announced next year, said city business resources manager Daniel Kennelly. It will be a hub of activity with a cafe, restaurants, taproom, bakery and deli, with offerings of fresh vegetables, cheese, fish, chocolates, ice cream, crafts and more, with space for temporary stalls, seating and performances.
We want the public market to be a place that blends familiar Madison food traditions with new and surprising vendors and products, Kennelly said.
The initial phase is expected to help launch 35 businesses, create 100 jobs, attract 500,000 visitors, and produce $16 million to $20 million in sales annually.
The private development will also bring more construction, with first-floor restaurants and retail and housing along Burr Jones Field that will play off the market and make this a very vibrant area with a lot of activity, Waller said.
In the future, the city also intends to re-purpose its Fleet Services Building just northwest of the market at First and East Johnson streets, with potential for more food-related uses.
Truly a gathering place
In recent years, the city has focused on how to create and accelerate local, multicultural businesses at the market.
If Madison is serious about addressing the root issues driving racial economic disparities in the city, a central focus needs to be placed on cultivating business ownership among people of color, Kennelly said.
The city budgeted $248,000 and teamed with FEED Kitchens a commercial kitchen on the North Side available to entrepreneurs the Northside Planning Council, the Wisconsin Womens Business Initiative Corp. and Dane County Extension to create MarketReady.
The city got 83 applications for the program, and eventually chose 30 entrepreneurs to participate, including 19 women, 10 first-generation immigrants, and a racial mix of 33 percent black, 27 percent Asian, 27 percent Latino and 17 percent white.
There arent too may places in Madison where you can go and feel like its truly a gathering place for a lot of different types of people, said consultant Amanda White, who is helping the foundation with outreach. Thats the goal of the market.
MarketReady entrepreneurs, who will pay the same rent as other vendors, offer a mix of businesses 23 food-related, three trading in textiles, four in arts and crafts, two in body care products, and three in services. A few may begin as a food cart or other startup outside the market. Others may open in the market. Some will spend a few years in the market and grow to bigger spaces elsewhere. Some may fail.
The program will provide mentoring, technical assistance and more. Half the participants will get a bit of funding to cover initial startup costs. Five will receive grants up to $17,000 to help cover expenses for a successful launch in the market.
Over time, were hoping that some of the businesses become successful to the point that they are creating jobs, growing the regions economy, and moving to larger facilities, Kennelly said. As an example, Starbucks started at the Pikes Place Market in Seattle and now has over 20,000 locations nationwide. Closer to home, RPs Pasta started at the Farmers Market and is now a nationwide brand that is creating manufacturing jobs here in Madison.
Deep cultural roots
The entrepreneurs create a mosaic.
Among them, Maipa Ly Tong-Pao and her family will sell Hmong and Southeast Asian-inspired foods, including egg rolls, barbecue skewers, Asian coleslaw, sandwiches and sauces, and Kossi Apaloo will launch his Afreeka Wear clothing line of T-shirts, polos and hats.
Donale Richards and Will Green of Mentoring Positives, which serves challenged youth, will build on the nonprofits successful Off the Block Salsa enterprise and introduce Off the Block Pizza, with youth engaged in the full process of making frozen- and ready-to-eat pizza and learning job skills.
Sher Osinowos AfriqueCaribe Bits & Bites will sell a fusion of West African, Caribbean, Key West and Deep South soul foods. Writer Araceli Esparza hopes to open a childrens bookstore focusing on local authors and bilingual reading with childrens programming and all-ages storytelling nights.
Behind many of the businesses are individuals and families with deep connections to their cultures and rich stories, such as siblings Namgyal Ponsar and Tharten Tsering, co-owners of the fledgling dZi Little Tibet food cart that they hope will become a restaurant in the market.
Ponsar and Tsering were born of parents whose families separately fled Tibet around the Chinese invasion in 1959. Their mothers family fled well in advance of the invasion, spending three months crossing the Himalayas to Nepal. Their fathers side fled as the invasion hit and became separated, some killed or captured.
Both families made their way to refugee camps in Nepal and eventually migrated to India, where the parents met and married and Ponsar and Tsering were born.
At age 23, Ponsar immigrated to America, starting as a seasonal worker in Provincetown, Massachusetts, moving to New York City, and coming to Madison after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, arriving in 2002. She became a certified nursing assistant and a registered nurse in 2013.
But her passion for cooking and appreciation of her Tibetan heritage fueled a desire to offer food and a place of gathering for local Tibetan and Himalayan communities. Her brother, who had studied cooking in India, migrated to New York City in 2008 and joined his sister in Madison in 2015.
The siblings started the food cart in 2016, growing vegetables at the Farley Center in Verona, a nonprofit that hosts Dane Countys only farm incubator. Ponsar, who still works as a nurse, helps with food prep at FEED kitchens, sometimes until 2 a.m. Tsering and a brother-in-law, Thinley Tenzing, cook and serve the meals, featuring the traditional Tibetan dumpling, the momo. Other family members help, too.
Of a move to the Public Market, Ponsar said, We are ready for it in terms of skill, hard work and determination. Our goal for applying and participating in MarketReady program is that we hope to get a permanent space to sell our food year-round, which could be a small cafe, restaurant or take-out only.
But theres more, reflecting higher aspirations and potential of the market.
We share a dream for the future to create a destination place for the public to come learn, experience or explore our unique Tibetan culture through food, art, architecture, Ponsar said. Most importantly, a peaceful place where all community can come together under one roof, share and learn our diversity from each other with peace, love and respect.
New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday slammed the BJP for the lathicharge by police on girl students of the Benaras Hindu University, saying it was the saffron party's version of "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao".
A number of students, including women, and two journalists were injured in the baton charge in the university which witnessed violence on Sunday, in an ugly turn to a protest against an alleged eve-teasing incident.
Attaching a link to a video of the students who alleged that they were beaten up by male policemen at the campus, Gandhi tweeted "BJP version of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao in BHU."
BJP version of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao in BHU https://t.co/2XWIG5CG2q Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) September 24, 2017
The trigger for the protest was an incident in which a woman student of the Arts faculty alleged harassment by three men on a motorcycle inside the campus while she was returning to her hostel.
The three men abused her and fled when she resisted their attempts, according to the complainant.
The woman alleged that security guards, about 100 metres from where the incident happened, did nothing to stop the men.
She said her warden, instead of taking up the issue with her superiors, asked her why was she was returning late to the hostel.
The warden's response angered fellow students, who sat on a 'dharna' at the main gate midnight Thursday. One of the students even got her head tonsured.
BHU students have alleged they have to face eve-teasers on the campus regularly and the varsity administration was not taking any action to stop the miscreants.
Earlier in the day, Gandhi thanked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for recognising Congress' "legacy" of IITs in her speech at the UN General Assembly yesterday.
"Sushma ji, thank you for finally recognising Congress governments' great vision and legacy of setting up IITs and IIMs," he said.
New Delhi:The Bhartiya Janata Party on Sunday won 13 out of 35 wards in the Gurugram Municipal Corporation (MCG) elections.
In an election it was expected to sweep in the absence of its principal rival Congress, the BJP emerged as the single largest party, and now hopes that elected independent candidates, 21 of them, will back its choice for city's mayor. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) won two wards.
A party needs to win a minimum of 18 wards to have their representative as the Mayor of the city.
The Congress didn't contest elections directly but backed three independent candidates. Fifteen of the 45 elected representative to the MCG are women. The polling was conducted earlier in the day and the voter turnout was 55.7%.
The results were perceived to be a setback for the BJP's Haryana unit, but State PWD Minister Rao Narbir Singh said the Mayor would be from the BJP. The minister asserted that the independent winners will back the BJP.
In 2011, as many as 27 independent candidates had won and then supported the Congress party, which was in power in the state. No incident of violence was reported, but police had arrested two persons for using fake voter ID cards.
New Delhi: Its proximity to the power centre in the national capital makes Delhi University (DU) a favourite talent hunting ground for all national parties.
DU student union elections, thus, are fought with all the rigour and seriousness of the senior league. Around 1.3 lakh regular students, nearly a 1.15 of which are undergraduates coming from different parts of the country are a microcosm of India's diversity. And perhaps also a barometer of the public mood and sentiments.
This year also, as in the past, DUSU elections were a direct contest between the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress party and RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
Of the four posts that the polls were conducted for, the NSUI managed to bag the President and Vice-president posts a feat it had last managed in 2012. The ABVP was relegated to Secretary and Joint Secretary posts. It had won all four seats in 2015 and three seats in 2016.
For both the Congress and its student wing, which has been battered and bruised in the last three years, the DU results came as a shot in the arm. But what really led to this turnaround at the hustings in the last couple of months? We tried to analyse.
CASTE AWAY, NOT REALLY
Kabhi Gujjar Jeetein, Kabhi Jat (Sometimes the Gujjars win, sometimes the Jats)
Caste is a reality in Indian polity. It adumbrates as the DUSU results show student union politics. The overtones in the election campaign may be the development of student facilities, campus violence, and ideological differences. But caste, it seems, is a much stronger binding factor even in the predominantly cosmopolitan crowd born much after Mandal politics redrew political faultlines in India in 1990.
It wasnt really a vote for the NSUI. No one actually does that. They vote based on their caste as a lot of the students come from UP or Haryana," says Kawalpreet Kaur, president of the AISAs DU wing.
For five years, ABVPs candidate for the post of the president has been a Gujjar. So to counter that, the NSUI played the Jat card. NSUIs president candidate Rocky Tuseed played the victim after his nomination was cancelled, successfully mobilising Jat lobbies around the NSUI. The student union approached the court, which stayed his disqualification. The matter is sub-judice.
You have to understand. These are students whove just stepped out of Class 12. They are embroiled in the patriarchal, conservative norms of society and during the elections (which take place two months after the freshers start their classes). They vote for what theyve been hearing in their society i.e. caste, says SFI leader Prashant Mukherjee.
The NSUI dismisses allegations. "My name is Fairoz Khan. Do you think I could have been sitting here if it was only caste-based politics? counters the NSUI national president.
SHOW ME THE MONEY
Seat toh usi ko milti hai jiski SUV doosre se badi ho (The man with the bigger car has more chances of winning the seat.)
While every union acknowledges the role of money to win DUSU elections, they are quick to pass the blame on others.
Look at what the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) did in 2015. Their display of money power, rather than raising issues, is what backfired on them. The students of Delhi University saw through it and the ABVP got all four seats that year, says Saket Bahuguna, national media convenor of the ABVP.
The CYSS, the students union of the Aam Aadmi Party, had contested the DUSU polls in 2015, hoping to ride the wave that helped the party come to power in the national capital.
The Lyngdoh committee in its report had recommended that the maximum permissible expenditure per candidate be set at Rs 5,000 and student unions were quick to shun, denounce it over the immense size, student base of the university.
So, where is the money being spent on and why do they need to do so? Pizza parties, distribution of chocolates, extravagant excursions and even handing out pepper sprays, says AISAs Kanwalpreet Kaur.
THE NOTA FACTOR
Notably, for an academic institution with such strong underlying political current, only 42.8% of the students turned up to vote and more than 9,000 of them voted for None Of The Above (NOTA).
The steady decline in the number of voters and the students show of dissent by voting for NOTA brings into question the on-ground realities of Delhi University politics.
I really think there should be a study on NOTA voters to understand which college, strata and caste they are from and why they do not want to vote for any of us, says Kanwalpreet Kaur.
In an election where less than 90,000 individuals vote, over 9,000 going to NOTA is a very serious issue. Does it not mean the complete rejection of Delhi University politics?
I think a lot of the NOTA voters were actually ABVP supporters who, because of peer pressure and such factors, decided to take the no one route rather than casting a ballot for NSUI or Left, says ABVPs Saket Bahuguna.
If these people do not believe in the current crop of candidates, then let them enter politics and work for the students, says SFIs Prashant Mukherjee, a view also espoused by NSUIs Fairoz Khan.
As Plato once said One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.
New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday thanked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for finally recognising Congress governments vision in her speech to the United Nations General Assembly a day earlier.
Taking to Twitter, Rahul Gandhi said, Sushma ji, thank you for finally recognising Congress governments' great vision and legacy of setting up IITs and IIMs (sic).
Sushma Swaraj had in her speech at the world body, cited IIMs and IITs among Indias achievements after Independence, whereas Pakistan had only succeeded on creating terror.
"I would like today to tell Pakistan's politicians just this much, that perhaps the wisest thing they could do is to look within. India and Pakistan became free within hours of each other. Why is it that today India is a recognised IT superpower in the world, and Pakistan is recognised only as the pre-eminent export factory for terror?" Swaraj asked.
"We produced scientists, scholars, doctors, engineers. We created IITs, IIMs and AIIMS. What have you (Pakistan) produced? You have produced terrorists... you have created terrorist camps, you have created Lashkar-e- Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahideen and Haqqani network," she said.
Sushma ji, thank you for finally recognising Congress governments' great vision and legacy of setting up IITs and IIMs Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) September 24, 2017
Swaraj had also referred to previous governments contribution to Indias development. "There have been many governments under many parties during 70 years of Indian freedom, for we have been a sustained democracy. Every government has done its bit for Indias development," she said, highlighting India's achievements in the fields of education, health, space etc.
Congress MP and former UN diplomat, Shashi Tharoor too lauded Swaraj's statements and said, "Sushma Ji was quite justified in turning the tables. Her response was fitting and strong. I appreciate hearing a member of this government acknowledging the great accomplishments of last 60-70 yrs."
Her speech was praised by PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
In a series of tweets, Modi said, "A strong message was given by Sushma Swaraj ji on the dangers of terrorism and why we have to unite and fight this menace."
The prime minister said Swaraj was insightful in identifying global challenges and strongly reiterated India's commitment to create a better planet.
"Incredible speech by EAM (External Affairs Minister) Sushma Swaraj at the UN! She has made India extremely proud at the world stage," he said.
Berlin: Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives beat their rivals on Sunday to win her a fourth term in an election that will also bring a far-right party into Germany's parliament for the first time in more than half a century, exit polls showed.
After shock election results last year, from Britain's vote to leave the European Union to the election of US President Donald Trump, many look to Merkel to rally a bruised liberal Western order, tasking her with leading a post-Brexit Europe.
She must now form a coalition government - an arduous process that could take months as all potential partners are unsure whether they really want to share power with her.
Merkel's conservative bloc won 32.5 percent of the vote, making them the largest parliamentary group, an exit poll for broadcaster ARD indicated. However, that was down from 41.5 percent in the last election, in 2013.
Support for their closest rivals, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) which are currently junior partners in a so-called "grand coalition" with Merkel, slumped to 20.0 percent - a new post-war low. The SPD ruled out a re-run of that tie-up.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) stunned the establishment by finishing third and entering parliament for the first time with 13.5 percent of the vote.
Merkel, Europe's longest serving leader, joins the late Helmut Kohl, her mentor who reunified Germany, and Konrad Adenauer, who led Germany's rebirth after World War Two, as the only post-war chancellors to win four national elections.
SPD deputy leader Manuela Schwesig said her party would now go into opposition. That would rule out a re-run of Merkel's existing alliance with the SPD.
An alternative coalition for Merkel would be a three-way tie-up with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and the ecologist Greens. That is a combination as yet untested at national level and known as the "Jamaica" option because the three parties' colours are those of the black-gold-green Jamaica national flag.
Both the FDP and the environmentalist Greens have played down the prospect of a Jamaica coalition, but as they have been out of government for four and 12 years respectively, they may be lured into an alliance by the prospect of power.
NEW ERA
Whatever the make-up of her coalition, Merkel, 63, faces four years of government in a fragmented parliament after the return of the FDP - unrepresented at national level for the last four years - and the arrival of the AfD.
Founded in 2013 by an anti-euro group of academics, the AfD has morphed into an anti-immigration party that has profited from Merkel's 2015 decision to leave German borders open to over 1 million migrants, most of them fleeing war in the Middle East.
The party's entry into the national parliament heralds the beginning of a new era in German politics that will see more robust debate and a departure from the steady, consensus-based approach that has marked the post-war period.
The other parties elected to the Bundestag all refuse to work with the AfD, which says it will press for Merkel to be "severely punished" for opening the door to refugees and migrants.
After the AfD hurt her conservatives in regional elections last year, Merkel, a pastor's daughter who grew up in Communist East Germany, wondered if she should run for re-election.
But with the migrant issue under control this year, she threw herself into a punishing campaign schedule, presenting herself as an anchor of stability in an uncertain world.
L'Ile-Saint-Denis, France: Anina Ciuciu, a 27-year-old law student who once begged for centimes, is vying to become France's first Roma senator on Sunday.
Ciuciu says she wants to "pave the way" for other Roma, a minority who have long been marginalised in France where some 20,000 of them live in hundreds of shantytowns around the country.
"I was a beggar, I was constantly humiliated," Ciuciu told AFP. "My story shows that anything is possible."
Ciuciu was seven when she and her family left post-Communist Romania at the height of an economic crisis.
Her accountant father, mother and their three daughters crossed the former Yugoslavia on foot at a time when the fields were still strewn with mines laid during the Balkan wars, eventually making it to Rome.
"We risked our lives like today's migrants are doing," Ciuciu said.
The family endured six months in squalid conditions in a huge refugee camp on the outskirts of Rome before heading to France.
"My father wanted to give us a future in the land of human rights," said Ciuciu, who has waist-long curly dark hair.
But in France, the family was refused asylum, and they resorted to begging.
One day in Bourg-en-Bresse, a town near the eastern city of Lyon, an encounter with a schoolteacher changed the course of their lives.
Jacqueline de la Fontaine took them under her wing, helping them to fulfil their dream of enrolling the girls in school.
Ciuciu, described by the teacher as determined and gifted, learned French and graduated from high school with top marks, before entering Paris's prestigious Sorbonne university to study law.
Not a token
In 2013, she wrote a book called: "Je Suis Tzigane et Je le Reste" which loosely translates as "I'm a gypsy for good" in a move that she says helped her obtain French nationality. So far, she is the only member of her family to do so.
If elected, she says she does not want to be "the token Roma" in the French Senate but a symbol.
"It would be historic for a young French woman of Roma origin to be elected, especially in the Senate, which is mostly made up of men and where the average age is 64!"
A total of 171 of the 348 seats are up grabs in the Sunday's ballot when elected lawmakers -- parliamentarians, mayors, local councillors -- cast ballots for the upper house.
But Ciuciu's chances of winning are thought to be slim as she is a candidate for the small leftist Notre Avenir (Our Future) party, and larger parties hold the advantage.
Pierre Chopinaud, who heads Roma advocacy group Voix des Rroms, said Ciuciu's candidacy was "very late" for France, noting that there are already Roma lawmakers in central European countries and in Sweden.
"But it is the beginning of something," he said.
Berlin: German voters will head to the polls for a general election on September 24, with surveys giving Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives a double-digit lead over their closest rivals, the Social Democrats.
But the race for third place is wide open, and in Germany's coalition system the smaller parties could tip the balance of power.
Here's a look at the parties expected to clear the five percent threshold to enter parliament.
The heavyweights
-- CDU: Founded after World War II, the centre-right Christian Democratic Union is the main conservative party, popular with the upper middle class and professionals.
Under Merkel, it has moved closer to the centre by adopting more leftist policies such as ending army conscription, scrapping nuclear power and opening the country's borders to refugees.
The party has shown loyalty to Merkel, in power for 12 years, but with no clear successor in sight critics have accused it of failing to prepare for the future.
-- CSU: The Christian Social Union is the CDU's more conservative sister party in the wealthy, staunchly traditional state of Bavaria. Its pugnacious leader Horst Seehofer was one of the loudest critics of Merkel's decision to take in hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers in 2015.
The CSU aligns itself with the CDU at a national level. Together, they have been the leading partnersin most of Germany's post-war governments.
-- SPD: Germany's oldest party at more than 150 years old, the Social Democratic Party is the natural home of the working class and the country's powerful unions.
Supporters accused it of betrayal when an SPD-led government forced through punishing labour reforms at the start of this century. Those reforms have since been credited with helping Germany's economic boom.
The SPD has struggled to shine as the junior partner in Merkel's grand coalition these past four years, despite pushing through a minimum wage, gay marriage and measures for more equality in the workplace.
Hopes that new SPD chief Martin Schulz can turn the tide and replace Merkel as chancellor have fizzled out along with his brief surge in the polls.
Possible kingmakers
-- FDP: The pro-business Free Democratic Party stands for liberal values, espousing free market capitalism and individual freedoms. It has spent more time in government than any other party, always as the junior partner to either the CDU/CSU or the SPD.
But after a lacklustre stint governing in Merkel's shadow, it humiliatingly crashed out of the Bundestag in the last election.
The FDP is now hoping for a comeback under telegenic young leader Christian Lindner, although critics say the party's platform is too vague.
-- The Greens: With its roots in the 1970s pacifist, anti-nuclear movement, the Greens played a pioneering role in advocating for gay rights and the shift away from nuclear energy.
But the Greens have struggled to keep voters energised as their core issues have gone mainstream.
Currently polling in the single digits, some commentators predict the Greens will have to choose between staying in opposition or joining a Merkel-led government that could also include the FDP, dubbed a "Jamaica coalition" after each party's colours and the Caribbean country's flag.
Opposition voices
-- Die Linke: Founded by communists from former East Germany and SPD defectors, the fiercely pacifist, anti-corporate far-left Die Linke is Germany's main opposition party.
Despite making it into several regional governments, its radical demands for the dissolution of NATO and the end of German military deployments abroad mean it is an unlikely coalition member at national level.
-- AfD: The Alternative for Germany began life in 2013 as a eurosceptic party before morphing into an anti-Islam, anti-immigration outfit. After capitalising on widespread anger over Merkel's refugee influx, the right-wing populists won seats in 13 of Germany's 16 state parliaments.
But endless infighting and a recent slowdown in asylum arrivals have sapped support for the party. Nevertheless, it remains on track to enter the national parliament for the first time. Shunned by other parties, the AfD would be headed straight for the opposition benches.
New Delhi: A UK hotel has informed the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) that it will not accommodate any of its staff members in future.
The hotel has alleged that they have received several complaints about Pakistani crew members pestering women by asking them for their contact numbers.
The UK hotel authorities have further said that the female guests are uncomfortable in the presence of these men at their establishment.
This is not the first instance of PIA getting into trouble abroad. In May this year, a PIA flight was intercepted with heroin. British authorities found heroin on the flight at Londons Heathrow Airport and confiscated the passports of all its crew members.
In February, another PIA flight was intercepted in London for a vague security threat.
Jerusalem: Israel's Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday denounced Iran's testing of a medium-range missile as a "provocation" and said it was proof of Tehran's ambition to become a world power.
Iran on Sunday said it had successfully tested a missile with a range of 2,000 kilometres and that can carry multiple warheads, in defiance of US warnings.
"The ballistic missile which Iran fired is a provocation of the United States and its allies, including Israel," Lieberman said in a statement.
"It is also a means to test our reactions as well as new proof of Iran's ambition to become a world power in order to threaten the countries of the Middle East and democratic states around the world."
The test comes at the end of a heated week of diplomacy at the UN General Assembly, where both the United States and Israel denounced Iran and its nuclear deal with six world powers.
US President Donald Trump accused Iran of destabilising the Middle East, calling it a "rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed and chaos".
The American president also threatened to bin the 2015 nuclear accord, saying Iran is developing missiles that could be used to deliver a nuclear warhead.
Echoing him, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said since the deal Iran has been "like a hungry tiger unleashed, not joining the community of nations but devouring nations one after the other".
Netanyahu vowed to fight what he described as "an Iranian curtain" descending on the Middle East, and pledged to prevent Iran from producing any weapons that could hit Israel.
"Those who threaten us with annihilation put themselves in mortal peril. Israel will defend itself with the full force of our arms and the full power of our convictions," Netanyahu said at the UN.
UN inspectors say Iran has fulfilled its commitments to give up its nuclear activities under the agreement, which was reached with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany.
Iran says all of its missiles are designed to carry conventional warheads only, and has limited their range to a maximum of 2,000 kilometres, although commanders say they have the technology to fly further.
That makes them only medium-range but still sufficient to reach Israel or US bases in the Gulf.
Kochi: Thousands of madrasas in Pakistan preaching Saudi brand of Islam produce "ruthless militants in hundreds", the Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) has said.
In a message, to the two-day South Asian Regional Seminar of Communist and Left parties, the Central Committee of the CPP said that the long-term tactics were designed by the military in Pakistan to tear the social fabric of the society.
M A Baby, a member the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), circulated a copy of the CPP's message at a press conference on the concluding day of the seminar on Sunday.
The CPP, founded in Calcutta in 1948, has a marginal presence in Pakistan.
Baby said CPP representatives could not attend the conference as they were denied visa by the Indian authorities.
The CPI(M) organised the seminar to mark the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia.
The CPP said that during periods of military rule in Pakistan, the party was banned and hundreds of its leaders' activists were jailed. Many of them disappeared, it said.
Even under these circumstances, the CPP continued its struggle for the basic rights of the masses.
It said the Pakistani military, soon after imposing martial law in the country in 1980, established some 60,000 madrasas which started preaching the Saudi brand of Islam.
"To glamourise jihadi culture, special recruitments were made in universities, schools and colleges. Areas adjacent to the Afghan border were surrendered to jihadi outfits," it said.
"Textbooks were revised and fanatic sectarian articles were included in the curriculum. Democracy and secularism were synonyms for a curse," it said.
The party alleged that the same pattern was being followed by the "establishment" in Pakistan even today.
"Madrasas are producing ruthless militants in hundreds...Students from public educational institutions are encouraged to join the ranks of militants," it said.
CHICAGO We all harbor little hurts in life, ones that never go away no matter how long ago they happened. One of mine is I didnt get to participate in my high school graduation ceremony.
Instead of walking across the stage of my college-prep school a prestigious school I had dreamed of attending since I was in first grade getting cheered on by family and friends, I sat with the band. I cried as we played Pomp and Circumstance for my classmates who commenced into their bright futures.
It wasnt bad grades or discipline issues I was a good student. It was just an administrative blunder. A scheduling mix-up had me take the second half of chemistry without having completing the first half. So in June, after all my friends had begun their summer of pre-freshman-at-college fun, I sat in a stifling hot classroom making up that half-credit that had gotten lost in the shuffle.
Now: Is it possible that my adviser didnt think of me as college-going material and wasnt on top of my credits? Sure, its possible.
My mom did 100 percent of the legwork and research necessary to get me in to college she was the one who helped me write applications, send transcripts and basically everything a college guidance counselor is supposed to do and my actual counselor never even broached these topics with me. It seems feasible that as someone with no family track record of attending college, I just wasnt a priority for anyone in the guidance office.
Though I am very proud of the education I received at a state land-grant school, it boggles the mind to imagine where life might have taken me had I been treated like other students who were expected to not only graduate on time, but go to the top-flight universities my majority-white peers had been encouraged to apply to.
I tell this story not because I felt victimized, but to illustrate just how outsize of an impact high school guidance counselors have on students future school and career trajectories. With such high stakes, its only right these post-secondary gatekeepers reflect on their power and potential biases as they do a job that literally puts students lives in their hands.
This is exactly what happened at the National Association for College Admission Counselings national conference earlier this month when keynote speaker Shaun R. Harper told the mostly white high-school guidance counselors and college admissions officers that their race has the potential to color their work.
According to a write-up in the trade journal Inside Higher Ed, Harper, the director of the University of Southern Californias Race and Equity Center, excoriated counselors for a plethora of life-changing professional sins. These include counselors not investing the same amount of time and energy in helping students of color apply to college as they do with white students, undermatching minority students by encouraging them to apply to less selective universities or even dissuading students of color from reaching for elite schools by telling them they arent smart enough.
The conversation was continued at a conference panel discussion on race titled Counseling While White. One participant, April Crabtree, an assistant vice provost of undergraduate admissions at the University of San Francisco, noted that nearly 80 percent of professors are white and even more administrators are. (A 2012 survey by the College Board found that 78 percent of high school counselors are white.) Crabtree told the crowd: If youre blind to whiteness in your personal life, you will not be aware of this in your professional lives.
At best, these blind spots leave the adults who play a major role in the lives of minority and first-generation college students at a disadvantage. At worst, it keeps them from seeing potential scholars where they might otherwise perceive kids who arent going very far in life.
But it doesnt take heroic exertions to shake this inability to understand minority students special needs it just takes effort.
At minimum, there are several works of fiction (including Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capo Crucet) and documentaries (like First Generation) that can open doors to the appreciation that a short quarterly appointment with unfamiliar students simply cant match.
Yangon: Cartoons taking aim at Rohingya Muslims are spreading rapidly across social media in mainly Buddhist Myanmar, where public opinion on the crisis stands in stark contrast to the outcry overseas.
Fanned by Myanmar's civilian and military leaders, an information war has taken hold and is being embraced with gusto by a legion of satirists, meme-makers and internet trolls.
Local cartoonists, many of whom earned their revered status for skewering the former junta, have taken aim at the Rohingya.
One widely-shared sketch called 'crocodile tears' shows a group of reptiles swimming away from a bank of mutilated animals towards an eager Western cameraman.
"I had to flee my motherland," a crying crocodile says into the microphone, a swipe at the testimonies of Rohingya refugees who have arrived in Bangladesh with accounts of atrocities by Myanmar's army.
The cartoons blame Rohingya Muslims for the violence and show eager western cameramen lapping up their 'lies'. (Photo: Twitter)
"There is something untrue about what they (the Rohingya) are saying," Win Naing, one of Myanmar's most famous cartoonists, told AFP. The 58-year-old, whose pen name is Aw Pi Kyeh, said he just wanted to provoke thought in a highly charged situation. "We draw cartoons with a spirit that loves the country."
For decades the paranoid former junta sequestered its people from technology, global opinion and debate. But since the country creaked open a few years ago, Myanmar's public has dived head first into Facebook and Twitter.
Now, anti-Rohingya diatribes are being 'liked', shared and retweeted - reinforcing long-held religious hatreds against the minority.
Since late August, around 4,30,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh, escaping an army crackdown in Rakhine state which the UN has called 'ethnic cleansing'. The global condemnation has triggered a defensive instinct in Myanmar where the Rohingya are not citizens and are broadly reviled.
KEYBOARD WARRIORS
Armed with crass humour, internet fame and riding a wave of public opinion, cartoonists have delivered sharp counter-punches.
When Malala Yousafzai condemned fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to speak up for the Rohingya, one cartoonist hit back with a rendering of the Pakistani activist with human excrement instead of brains - a grim reference to her surgery after being shot in the head by the Taliban.
A UN insignia wrapped in a Middle-Eastern keffiyeh, suggesting the body is in cahoots with the Arab world. (Photo: Twitter)
A sketch by cartoonist Okka Kyi Winn, liked nearly 10,000 times on his Facebook page, showed a UN insignia wrapped in a Middle-Eastern keffiyeh, suggesting the body is in cahoots with the Arab world.
While the intention may be pure satire, such images are contributing to a siege mentality in Myanmar, where keyboard warriors are trading blows with vocal pro-Rohingya groups scattered across the Muslim world.
The prevailing view among the Buddhist majority is that foreign media and international NGOs have embellished the plight of the Rohingya and unfairly bashed Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
'The Lady' has refused to weigh in on the squall of claims and counterclaims, saying only that there is a 'huge iceberg of misinformation'. Many outside Myanmar are baffled by the seeming lack of empathy, and the often violent rhetoric from a Buddhist people.
But toxic Islamophobia has been brewing in the country for years, fed in part by official rhetoric that the Muslim Rohingya are foreign invaders intent on taking a Buddhist land.
As his troops blanket Rakhine, Myanmar's commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing has continued with Facebook posts branding the Rohingya as 'terrorist extremists' of 'Bengali' origin - a state-stamped slur that condemns them to the status of illegal migrants.
'BETTER ANGELS'
Newspapers, TV debates and social media have followed suit, jeering at the Rohingya as they flee, says Sein Win of the Myanmar Journalism Institute.
Some of the loudest noises are coming from people who fought repression under the junta, he told AFP, in a remarkable reshaping of the young democracy's political landscape. I am disturbed by the actions of the media, civil society and even former political activists. You need to care about humans across the board, not just when it suits you," he said.
On Friday US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Murphy condemned the hate speech on social media and urged the "better angels" of the Myanmar people to find empathy for the Rohingya.
But cartoonists such as Maung Maung Fountain (pen name) argue their sketches "don't insult any religion or any people". In one, he draws a camel - a code for Rohingya Muslims - that has edged its way into a tent made from the Myanmar flag then bellows 'Human Rights' at the startled Burmese man he has just evicted.
"I meant say that some people want more and more rights and opportunities."
US bombers and fighter escorts flew off the coast of North Korea in a show of force against its nuclear weapons program, escalating already sky-high tensions. The Pentagon says this was the furthest north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas that any US fighter or bomber has flown off North Koreas coast in this century. In response, North Korean foreign minister warned that a strike on US mainland was inevitable.
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With the sixth nuclear tests on September 3, 2017, North Korea has reiterated its indomitable desire to take their nuclear weapon capacity up to an irreversible stage. The test reportedly had yield capacity of 100-250 kilotonnes and it was a thermonuclear device.
The six nuclear tests are not only special because of their yield capacity but also because of other technological sophistication. North Korea has consistently followed its nuclear ambitions and has been able to overcome most of the obstacles in the journey.
When regional dynamics is volatile for the ruling North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, nuclear weapons are considered to be the last guarantor of survival.
North Korea has learnt lessons from Iraq and Libya. In the case of Iraq, absence of weapons of mass destruction was the reason that made it possible for the US-led alliance to topple the Saddam Hussein government easily and Libya had to face consequences of giving up its nuclear weapons.
From the North Korean perspective, in an unsettled East Asian region, possession of nuclear weapons ensures that external players would not be able to intervene to realise their desire of change of regime.
To understand North Koreas nuclear ambition, it is important to understand that North Korea is one of the divided countries and it faces threat from South Korea and the US alliance.
Until the mid-Cold War era, it reasonably matched South Koreas military strength in conventional warfare. However, during the last few years of the Cold War, North Korea realised that it could not compete with South Korea in the conventional weapons domain. Its leadership thought that nuclear weapons could be the only option to bring deterrence in the inter-Korea dynamics.
Moreover, around the end of the Cold War, Pyongyangs two important security allies USSR and China established diplomatic relations with South Korea. Pyongyang considered it abandoning of their commitment to the North Korean security.
North Korea had to take charge of its own security and nuclear weapons were considered to be a viable option in the changed milieu.
From the early 1990s, North Korea was not able to have economic exchanges and benefits, like it used to with the USSR, China and other East European socialist countries.
Its effect on North Korea economy was quite severe. North Korean economic situation worsened due to natural calamities such as flood and drought in the mid-1990s. Reports said that almost 2 million North Koreans starved to death, which was around 10 percent of North Korean population.
When the North Korean regime performed poorly on economic terms, the leadership decided to articulate and consolidate popular support by pursuance of nuclear weapon programme more aggressively. Thus, in a way North Korean nuclear ambition also become an instrument to acquire legitimacy for the ruling regime.
North Korea suffers from insufficiency of food, malnutrition, lack of liberal education, absence of almost all kind of freedom and so on. Thus, North Koreans are taught to take pride in their nuclear and missile programmes and the ruling regime tries to deflect attention from the problems.
Thus, nuclear ambitions of North Korea must be understood in the context of the threat from the South Korea-US alliance, sense of abandonment from the USSR and China, quest of survival of political regime, and source of domestic legitimacy.
Most of the time, the international community, under the leadership of the US, has not been able to recognise the complex dynamic of the North Korean nuclear ambitions. So, they have not been able to deal with the issue.
Contrary to public perception, whenever North Korean nuclear ambition was correctly understood and an informed policy was adopted, North Korean behaviour and posture have been moderate and encouraging.
IMPLICATIONS
North Koreas nuclear ambitions may have a context or explanation from North Korean perspective but it has serious disruptive implications for the regional politics. It has brought the East Asia region at a short-fuse and any miscalculation may lead to actual nuclear conflict in the region with catastrophic consequences.
In recent years, on the issue of North Koreas regular nuclear and missile tests, there has been sharp exchange of statements between Pyongyang and the Washington-Tokyo-Seoul alliance. Any of these activities have the capacity to transform into an actual conflict.
Another implication of the North Korean ambitions is that in and around the Korean peninsula, huge armament has taken place in recent years.
Its now a real possibility that South Korea and Japan would also try to exercise their own nuclear ambitions. With Donald Trump coming to power in the US, South Korea and Japan cant be sure about military aid from the US.
Actually, Trump has many times stated that both its allies should either take care of their own security or should pay for it. In the domestic politics of South Korea and Japan, already a sizeable number of people support their countries going nuclear. This possible nuclear arms race in the region would further destabilise it.
WAY FORWARD
It is urgent for the US, South Korea, Japan and other countries to think about a peaceful resolution. Its too simplistic to blame North Korea for its nuclear ambitions. North Korean nuclear ambitions are based on the countrys desire for security and survival.
If the North Korean regime is ensured its security and survival through an empathic understanding and a process of engagement is initiated, North Korea might be brought to the negotiating table and a satisfactory resolution of the crisis could be arrived at.
However, putting pressure and economic sanctions on North Korea through bilateral mechanism and multilateral institutions are not going to be successful as North Korea is not quite dependent on its external economic exchanges, apart from China.
(Sandip Kumar Mishra is an Associate Professor at the Centre for East Asian Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University. All views are personal.)
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Saudi Arabia says it shot down a ballistic missile fired by Shiite rebels and their allies in Yemen during the kingdom's National Day.
A statement carried early Sunday by the state-run Saudi Press Agency said the missile targeted Khamis Mushait, a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia that's home to the King Khalid Air Base.
The statement says the missile "was intercepted and destroyed without any casualties" and Saudi forces later attacked the missile's launch site inside of Yemen.
A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting Shia rebels known as Houthis in Yemen since March 2015. The Houthis and their allies have access to a stockpile of Soviet-era Scud missiles and locally designed variants.
The war has killed more than 10,000 civilians. The United Nations has criticised Saudi-led airstrikes for killing civilians.
Seoul/United Nations: US President Donald Trump dialed up the rhetoric against North Korea again at the weekend, warning the country's foreign minister that he and leader Kim Jong Un "won't be around much longer", as Pyongyang staged a major anti-US rally.
North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday that targeting the US mainland with its rockets was inevitable after "Mr Evil President" Trump called Pyongyang's leader a "rocket man" on a suicide mission.
"Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at UN If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!" Trump said on Twitter late on Saturday.
Trump and Kim have traded increasingly threatening and personal insults as Pyongyang races towards its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States something Trump has vowed to prevent.
Analysts say the escalation in rhetoric is increasing the risk of a miscalculation by one side or the other that could have massive repercussions.
North Korea's state-run television KRT aired a video on Sunday showing tens of thousands of people attending an anti-US rally at Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang.
The North's official KCNA news agency said more than 100,000 people gathered for the rally on Saturday and delivered speeches supporting comments made by Kim earlier in the week.
"We are waiting for the right time to have a final battle with the US, the evil empire, and to remove the US from the world," KCNA quoted Ri Il-bae, a commanding officer of the Red Guards, as saying. "Once respected Supreme commander Kim Jong-Un gives an order, we will annihilate the group of aggressors."
UNPRECEDENTED
In an unprecedented direct statement on Friday, Kim described Trump as a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard" whom he would tame with fire.
Kim said the North would consider the "highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history" against the United States and that Trump's comments had confirmed his nuclear programme was "the correct path".
Kim's comments came after Trump threatened in his maiden UN address on Thursday to "totally destroy" the country of 26 million people.
It was not clear from Trump's latest tweet if he was referring to Ri and Kim, or North Korea more broadly.
North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb test on September 3, prompting another round of U.N. sanctions. Pyongyang said on Friday it might test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.
"It is only a forlorn hope to consider any chance that the DPRK (North Korea) would be shaken an inch or change its stance due to the harsher sanctions by the hostile forces," Ri told the UN General Assembly on Saturday.
BOMBERS
US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers escorted by fighters flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea on Saturday in a show of force the Pentagon said indicated the range of military options available to Trump.
The US bombers' flight was the farthest north of the demilitarised zone separating North and South Korea that any US fighter jet or bomber had flown in the 21st century, the Pentagon said.
The patrols came after officials and experts said a small earthquake near North Korea's nuclear test site on Saturday was probably not man-made, easing fears Pyongyang had exploded another nuclear bomb just weeks after its previous one.
The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce and not a peace treaty.
The North accuses the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, of planning to invade and regularly threatens to destroy it and its Asian allies.
Washington: US bombers and fighter escorts flew off the coast of North Korea Saturday in a show of force against its nuclear weapons program, escalating already sky-high tensions.
The hermit state's foreign minister, meanwhile, assailed US President Donald Trump at the United Nations, deriding him as a "mentally deranged" leader whose threats had increased the chances of military confrontation.
Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un have exchanged increasingly bellicose rhetoric in recent days, as international alarm mounts over Pyongyang's weapons ambitions -- including a hint this week that the country is considering detonating an H-bomb over the Pacific.
US bombers have carried out similar flights before, as the United States and the international community struggle to rein in North Korea's weapons programs.
But in a new stage for such show of force operations, the Pentagon stressed this was the furthest north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas that any US fighter or bomber has flown off North Korea's coast in this century.
"This mission is a demonstration of US resolve and a clear message that the president has many military options to defeat any threat," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said.
"We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the US homeland and our allies."
The Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers flown Saturday are based in Guam, and were accompanied by F-15C Eagle fighter escorts from Okinawa, Japan, White said. They flew over international waters off the east coast of North Korea.
There was another reason for concern after an underground rumble near North Korea's nuclear test site. China at first said it suspected an explosion.
But it was later ruled by a nuclear test ban watchdog and other experts to be a shallow 3.5-magnitude earthquake and likely an aftershock from the hermit state's latest nuclear test on September 3.
This week saw a blistering war of words between Kim and Trump, with the US leader using his maiden speech at the United Nations General Assembly to warn that Washington would "totally destroy" the North if America or its allies were threatened.
'Full of megalomania'
The North, which says it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself against the threat of a US invasion, responded on Friday with a rare personal rebuke from Kim, who called Trump "mentally deranged" and threatened the "highest level of hardline countermeasure in history."
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho took things further. He, too, dismissed Trump as deranged, and said his threats had increased the chances of military confrontation.
Ri told the UN General Assembly in New York that Trump's vow to "totally destroy" his country had made "our rockets' visit to the entire US mainland all the more inevitable."
Describing Trump as a "mentally deranged person full of megalomania," Ri said the US leader who "holds the nuclear button" posed "the gravest threat to international peace and security today."
Washington announced tougher restrictions Friday aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile program, building on tough new UN sanctions aimed at choking Pyongyang of cash.
Russia and China have both appealed for an end to the escalating rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang.
But on the fringes of the UN meeting this week, Ri upped the tensions further, telling reporters Pyongyang might now consider detonating a hydrogen bomb outside its territory.
Monitoring groups estimate that the nuclear test conducted in North Korea earlier this month had a yield of 250 kilotons, which is 16 times the size of the US bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.
Hydrogen bombs, or H-bombs, are thermonuclear weapons far more powerful than ordinary fission-based atomic bombs, and use a nuclear blast to generate the intense temperatures required for fusion to take place.
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When Amherst native Crystal Rossons grandfather Sterling Jones Jr. died in 2012, it awakened a need to know more about her family.
She soon discovered she was a descendant of the slaves of Sweet Briar Plantation, now the site of Sweet Briar College. Through her search, Rosson met Sweet Briar College humanities research professor Lynn Rainville, founding director of the Tusculum Institute, a historic preservation center at Sweet Briar College, and author of Hidden History: African American Cemeteries in Central Virginia.
Together, the two presented their research methods at Thomas Jeffersons Poplar Forests African American Family History Day on Saturday in a talk titled, Roots & Remembrance: Tracing the Descendants of the Enslaved Community at Sweet Briar.
It was one of several talks presented during the daylong event that drew more than 40 people.
The event also featured a free catered lunch, a live performance by Lynchburg musician Richard Harvey and an Enslaved Community tour about the lives of the dozens of slaves at Poplar Forest.
Wayne Gannaway, Poplar Forest director of marketing, programs and grants, said planning for the event began in February with the help of the organizations nine-member African American Advisory Group.
The main goal is to encourage all people especially the African-American community to explore their ancestry, and to really explore all parts of it, he said, explaining Poplar Forest is interested in telling the stories of all people, including the enslaved.
Those stories are extremely important, Rainville said.
All history begins with local history with men and women and their children and then the contributions that they make, Rainville said. And in the case of African-American history, unfortunately this history is sometimes harder to recover from the records.
But once you do recover it, you can more fully appreciate how much these people were contributing to the history we read in the history books.
It may not be detailed in history books, but African Americans contributed to everything from culinary patterns to agriculture and more as there are many inventions that havent been correctly attributed, she said.
If we dont find these stories, share these stories with the public, with other generations, theyre just lost, she said. If you know something, if you know information about a person, where a cemetery is, know what they did for a living, just [share] that with anyone whos willing to listen.
Rosson said people need to know their past in order to learn from it.
I think in todays time we see excellent examples of this every day, she said. I dont feel like we may have dealt with these issues in the past and maybe thats why we have such a need to have these conversations now so we can get this information out.
Rosson and Rainville both mentioned the concept of plantations being black spaces during their talk.
You have a small number of white people and a larger number of black people, but the black peoples stories are not the ones being told, Rosson said.
Its important to share those stories and preserve that history because without it weve lost a lot of information thats pertinent to how we go forward.
Thats why Rosson wants her two daughters Sydney, 15, and Zoe, 12 to know their roots.
Theyve grown up watching me with this, she said, explaining she often takes the two exploring through old cemeteries. and I think its given them a very good sense of self. I think for them to have this deeper understanding, its not just skin deep. Theres more to this than just research.
Poplar Forest is working to reclaim and share the history of its enslaved residents.
In 2014, the Bedford County historic site hosted a slavery symposium with Randolph College that kicked off Poplar Forests larger effort to tell slave stories.
It was huge, Gannaway said. That was our first really big, big event and that really kind of put wind behind our sails. Weve been trying to build on that ever since.
Poplar Forest will hold a Juneteenth event next year and present The Day Is Past & Gone, a collection of three short plays on slave life at Thomas Jeffersons plantation, Gannaway said.
Saturdays event featured several other talks, including Their Story is Our Story! The Discovery of King Daniel Ganaway: A Genealogical Story of Migration and Relationships by Tim and Brenda Fredericks; Descendant Communities at Presidential Historic Site Plantation, by Leotyne Peck, J. Calvin Jefferson and Gayle Jessup White; and Home is Where Family Is: Exploring Ancestry at Monticello and Poplar Forest by Niya Bates and Jack Gary.
Rossons search into her familys past is still very much a work in progress, she said, but she isnt worried.
I wont stop.
CHICAGO When it comes to the Iranian nuclear deal, the Trump administration is a carnival of contradiction. Its attitude brings to mind the story of the inmates who complained that the prison food was terrible and they werent allowed seconds.
In his tirade at the United Nations, the president said the accord is one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into. During the campaign, he promised to dismantle it. But eight months after he took office, his administration is still abiding by it.
U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley insists that Trump has grounds to assert that Iran is not complying. But Trump has twice certified that the Tehran regime has upheld its end of the bargain. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged Wednesday that Iran is in technical compliance which is true in the same sense that Tillerson is technically secretary of state.
He had the chance to lay out any violations during a meeting Thursday with his counterparts from the other signatory governments. But European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini, who chaired the meeting, said all agreed that Iran is complying including, she stipulated, the United States.
Tillerson, however, is not satisfied just because Iran has done what it agreed to do. He resents that some of the provisions that restrict Iran have expiration dates. But you would think the best thing about a bad agreement is that it doesnt run forever. You would want the terms to be permanent only if you think its desirable.
The accord is highly desirable, because it deprives Iran of the means to build a nuclear weapon for a long time. It forced Iran to shut down most of its centrifuges, surrender 97 percent of its fissile material, convert two reactors to peaceful uses and accept stringent international inspections. In exchange, Iran got the removal of some economic sanctions and access to $100 billion in assets that had been frozen abroad.
The disadvantage of preserving the deal is that it lets Iran expand the number of operating centrifuges after 10 years and the stockpile of enriched uranium after 15 years. The disadvantage of renouncing the deal is that it would let Iran do those things immediately.
Giving up the restrictions because they wont be in place after 2030 is like abandoning your car on the side of the road today because it will eventually stop running. It would make more sense to negotiate to extend the deal.
Backing out of the agreement would be even worse than not reaching it in the first place. Thats because Iran has already gotten a large share of what it sought notably, the $100 billion it was able to reclaim. If Trump were to shred the agreement, Iran would get to keep the money without having to keep its promises. I dont think that decision would merit a chapter in the next edition of The Art of the Deal.
At the U.N., Trump denounced Iran as an unrepentant rogue state that funds terrorism and uses its resources to shore up Bashar al-Assads dictatorship, fuel Yemens civil war and undermine peace throughout the entire Middle East.
Well, yes and freeing Tehran from the constraints of the deal would help how? If anything is worse than a regime full of bad dudes, its a regime full of bad dudes that has an atomic arsenal.
You dont make nuclear deals with Sweden, Ben Rhodes, who was deputy national security adviser under Barack Obama, told NPR. There are other ways of getting at other elements of Iranian behavior, but all of those elements would be worse if they had a nuclear weapon. Maybe the administration could negotiate with the Iranians to curtail their other sinister activities, but not if it discards the product of past negotiations.
If Trump were to renounce the accord, he would be violating an agreement that the international inspectors say Iran has fulfilled. He would be proving to Iran and the other parties to the deal Germany, Britain, France, the European Union, Russia and China that Washingtons word is no good. As for pursuing a better deal, why would Iran ever sign another agreement with us?
If Trump decides to torch the deal, we will most likely face the choice of watching as Tehran resumes progress toward acquiring nukes or launching another Mideast war in the hope of halting it. The Iranian deal looks bad only if you forget the alternatives.
The extensive upgrade work will include modernisation of facilities at the airport, with the car park set to be transformed into a multi-storey facility that can handle hundreds of vehicles. Modern airport bridges will also be installed at new gates while the runway will also be expanded further to allow for multiple landings at the same time.
Zesa Holdings will pay South African power utility, Eskom, a substantial amount of money to reduce its debt and avoid being switched off, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr John Mangudya has said.
Eskom has for the third time in three months threatened to switch off Zimbabwe, which is experiencing acute foreign currency shortages.
The South African power utility is owed about $44 million. Eskom has written to Zesa threatening to cut off the 300 megawatts it supplies to Zimbabwe after the local power utility breached the terms of a payment plan agreed with Eskom in July.
This, Dr Mangudya said, was a result of foreign currency shortages. We have moved quite a lot and are organising funds to pay Eskom so that we can continue to enjoy electricity supplies, he said.
Asked why Zesa was defaulting every month, he responded: Its not an attitude. We entered into an agreement with Eskom where we are supposed to pay them at least $10 million per week and sometimes, because of the way the foreign currency comes into the country, it is a cyclical in nature, it means sometimes we are behind now and then. But we are going to catch up.
We had agreed to pay per week but (failed) because of the cyclical nature of our exports. They dont come one time as you know. We are going to catch up and there will be no switch off.
Zesa Holdings chief executive Engineer Josh Chifamba is reportedly in South Africa to save the situation.
Just last month, Zimbabwe faced imminent load shedding but the central bank moved in and paid $8 million.
Part of the money also went to Hydro Cahora Bassa (HCB) of Mozambique where the country is getting 50 megawatts.
Any load shedding at the moment will deal a major blow to industry as well as agricultural activities at Grain Marketing Board depots and winter wheat farming that is currently underway.
Zesa in May agreed to pay Eskom about $10 million weekly in a deal that would have seen the debt being liquidated in four months.
At the same time, the power utility agreed to pay for current supplies. Foreign currency shortages have seen Zesa failing to meet the payment obligations. Zimbabwe has been relying on power imports from South Africa and HCB of Mozambique to meet local demand as a way of promoting production in the economy. Zimbabwe consumes about 1 400MW daily.
The country has been receiving steady power supplies since December 2015 as a result of various initiatives such as imports. Zesa is refurbishing its power stations while also working on expansion projects in Kariba and Hwange. The projects take time to complete, forcing the country to rely on power imports. Herald
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At least 11 people have died since Hurricane Irma knocked out the air conditioning at their Florida nursing home. Florida Gov. Rick Scott ended funding for The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills and suspended its license in the wake of the deaths. Now CBS Miami reports four voicemail messages left on Scott's personal cellphone by nursing home staff in the 36 hours before the first resident died were deleted. The Rehabilitation Center says those messages would have been important evidence in an ongoing criminal investigation. Before Irma made landfall, Scott instructed nursing home officials to call his cellphone if there was trouble. The vice president of The Rehabilitation Center says she did just that four times, asking for "immediate assistance" to get power restored for the air conditioning system.
State officials say some of the residents had body temperatures up to 109 degrees when they died. The New York Times reports one 84-year-old appeared to have steam rising from her legs when she arrived at the hospital. A woman whose father went through an AC-less weekend at the nursing home earlier this year tells the Bradenton Heraldwhich has a deep look at the nursing home before and after Irmathe place was a "hellhole" and "torture chamber." When the heat gets up to a certain level, the patients are not breathing right because they are boiling up inside," she says. A spokesperson for Scott's office says they were within their rights to delete the voicemail messages, which were immaterial anyway because "this facility chose not to call 911 or evacuate their patients to the hospital across the street to save lives." (Read more Hurricane Irma stories.)
House Speaker Paul Ryan told officials at a Harley-Davidson motorcycle factory in Menomonee Falls last week that Congress is moving full throttle on tax reform.
Good. America needs a simpler tax code with lower rates and fewer loopholes to stay competitive in the global economy.
But Ryan, R-Janesville, also is hedging on his pledge not to run up the federal deficit in the process.
Thats disturbing.
The federal tax code has become a convoluted mess thats inefficient and expensive to comply with. It includes a high corporate tax rate of 35 percent, and far too many ways for clever tax attorneys to help their wealthy clients avoid paying any taxes at all.
Even former Democratic President Barack Obama said the corporate tax rate has to come down. And like Ryan, he and other Democrats have favored a simpler system.
So Congress should be able to rewrite and streamline the tax code with bipartisan input and cooperation.
Thats how sweeping tax reform was last accomplished more than three decades ago. Republican President Ronald Reagan worked with Democrats in Congress to reach a deal in 1986.
Key to that historic agreement was keeping tax reform revenue neutral, meaning lower rates were offset by the repeal of subsidies and loopholes, among other changes.
Speaker Ryan had touted a similar goal until hedging this month during an interview with the Associated Press. Ryan repeatedly refused to confirm that the tax reform plan hes helping draft will not add to the nations annual deficit, which is approaching $700 billion.
We want pro-growth tax reform that will get the economy going, that will get people back to work, that will give middle-income taxpayers a tax cut and that will put American businesses in a better competitive playing field so that we can keep American businesses in America, Ryan said.
All that sounds good. But the speaker quickly added: That is more important than anything else.
No, its not if by anything else Ryan means further running up Americas debt, which topped $20 trillion this month and is projected to increase $10 trillion over the next decade.
Ryans comments, according to the AP, signaled possible retreat on a core GOP commitment not to add to the ballooning federal deficit. We hope thats not the case. Yet top Republicans on a key Senate panel last week tentatively agreed to a tax cut that would add $1.5 trillion to the debt over the next decade, according to the AP.
Ryan and other top leaders are expected to unveil details of their tax plan this week. Theyre sure to contend that rate cuts will stimulate the economy and bring in more revenue. But banking on a big tax cut to magically pay for itself would be a huge risk. Lawmakers should rely on the analysis of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office instead.
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., calls federal debt a greater threat to our nation than North Korea, Russia or the Islamic State.
Hes right.
Ryan and the rest of Wisconsins congressional delegation should insist that meaningful tax reform move forward in a fiscally responsible way.
British actor Colin Firth says he has taken Italian citizenship as a "sensible" move amid global political uncertainty. Firth, who is married to environmentalist Livia Giuggioli, says he has become a dual UK-Italian citizen, and his wife is applying for British nationality. Their two sons already have dual citizenship. In a statement Saturday, the 57-year-old Firth said he and his wife had never thought much about their different passports, reports the AP, "but now, with some of the uncertainty around, we thought it sensible that we should all get the same."
Firth has been quoted as calling Brexit a disaster. The actor, who has played Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice and King George VI in The King's Speech, said he "will always be extremely British" but also has "a passionate love of Italy." He's not the only Brit getting citizenship elsewhere, notes the AP: Actor Ralph Fiennes got his Serbian passport on Sunday from President Aleksandar Vucic himself. Vucic says "we Serbs are happy to have you as a friend and now a fellow citizen." (Read more Colin Firth stories.)
An upstate New York farm is marking the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in the state in distinctly fall fashion, with a corn maze in the shape of Susan B. Anthony. Stokoe Farms' owner Suzanne Stokoe says she wanted to honor one of Rochester's most famous citizens with the three-acre maze, which features the activist's profile and her house, which has been turned into a museum. "We always look in the community for some way to honor some person or business who has contributed to the Rochester and greater Rochester area," Stockoe tells the Democrat and Chronicle, calling it a "beautiful picture."
This year is the centennial of women's voting rights in New York, reports the AP. Three years later, in 1920, ratification of the 19th Amendment gave all American women the right to vote. The maze is open through the end of October. Weather conditions mean the corn is towering this year, says Stockoe, but don't worry: "We have never lost a person." (Read more Susan B Anthony stories.)
Just days after a monument honoring AK-47 designer Mikhail Kalashnikov was unveiled in Moscow, workers have removed a part of it that showed a German weapon that many believe inspired the renowned assault rifle. The monument features a towering statue of Kalashnikov and an adjacent sculpture of St. George fighting a dragon with an AK-47-tipped spear, reports the AP. Metalwork on the plinth of that statue bore etchings of guns, one of which was discovered to be of the StG44 rifle used by Nazi Germany.
News reports said the gun images were ground off on Friday. Said sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov, per the Guardian: "It looks like this [mistake] sneaked in from the internet." State news agency Tass quoted Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky saying: "There's one big plus in thisnow everyone will exactly know that in their designs the AK and the German assault rifle are absolutely different firearms." (Read more Kalashnikov stories.)
Some of the oldest daguerreotypes and photographs of US landscapes are about to go on display in New Orleans, as part of the first exhibit and study of such landscapes made east of the Mississippi River, the AP reports. Photographs of vast, unspoiled Western vistas are well known, many of them from federal land surveys after the Civil War. Photography had had a while to develop by then"people could take cameras with them into the West," said Russell Lord, curator of photography at the New Orleans Museum of Art. But, he said, "In many ways, when photography comes to the East, people have reshaped the land, and people photograph that process." And, by the end of the century, photographers were taking note of industry's devastation and pushing for preservation of what wilderness remained.
East of the Mississippi: Nineteenth-Century American Landscape Photography will run through Jan. 7 at the New Orleans Museum of Art. "Some of the oldest known photographs in this country are in this exhibit, and many are being shown for the first time everand probably the only time in our lives, because the material is fragile and light-sensitive," said Lord. The oldest include a 1939 daguerreotype of Newburyport, Massachusetts, by Boston-area physician Henry Coit Perkins, andlent by the library of Newcastle University in Englandtwo shots of Niagara Falls taken in 1840 by English scientist Hugh Lee Pattinson. Read more about the exhibit here. (Read more photograph stories.)
Exit polls suggest Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc has finished first in Germany's election, putting her in a position to lead the country for a fourth term, the AP reports. Exit polls conducted for public television channels ARD and ZDF suggested support for Merkel's conservatives was between 32.5% and 33.5% in Sunday's vote. They indicate challenger Martin Schulz's Social Democrats trailed in second place with between 20% and 21% support. The polls also suggested that the anti-migrant, nationalist Alternative for Germany party will enter the national parliament for the first time with 13% to 13.5% support. The Social Democratic Party called the Alternative for Germany party "a right-wing extremist party that doesn't belong in parliament. (Read more Angela Merkel stories.)
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New Delhi:
Amazon has signed a Rs 179.25-crore deal with Shoppers Stop, purchased 5 percent equity in multi retailer Shopper Stop on Saturday and Amazon will sell its products online exclusively on the e-retailer's website.
The board has approved issuing 43.95 lakh equity shares of Rs 5 each, at price of Rs 407.78 a piece, to Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC, Shoppers Stop said in a BSE filing.
Shoppers Stop, managing director Govind Shrikhande said that he will use the funds to continue expanding physical and online retail businesses.
On October 18, the company will hold a general meeting with all the shareholders to seek their approval.
Also Read: CAIT alleges that Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal have violated FDI rules
In a related development, Shoppers Stop also announced it had entered into an exclusive partnership with Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd, PTI reported. In addition to the website of the company and its group companies, the company will exclusively sell its products online on the Amazon.in the marketplace, the company said.
In a bid to increase the dominance in the sphere of the online fashion market, Amazon has tied up with Shopper Stop as Flipkart, Jabong and Myntra have already raged the high heated competition.
Also Read: Flipkart, Amazon and Paytm Mall festive season sales on smartphone breaks last year record
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New Delhi:
The miscreants, who were planning to kidnap a mining trader for ransom, were arrested by police after an encounter in Uttar Pradeshs Ghazipur district on Sunday late night.
Ankit Gupta, who hails from Munshi Pulia in Lucknow, is a renowned mining trader. The miscreants motive was to kidnap the trader and demand for huge ransom.
But the police foiled their plan. The miscreants opened fire on them which left them with no other option instead of retaliating.
All the six miscreants were arrested by the police out of which one was seriously injured.
The police had recovered one revolver and five guns from them.
ALSO READ: Delhi Police arrests most wanted criminal Sonu Dariyapur from Narela
New Delhi:
Newton starring Rajkummar Rao has been selected as India's official entry to Oscars and the team is on cloud nine.
The movie which was released on Friday, September 22 has managed to garner rave reviews from critics and audiences.
The lead actor Rajkummar Rao recently addressed the media at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in Mumbai.
The 33-year old actor said that he will take the help of Bollywood's Mr. Perfectionist Aamir Khan for promoting his film 'Newton' at the Oscars. Aamir's Lagaan made it to the final five of the Oscar nominations for Best Foreign Language Film.
Rao added that he is proud of Lagaan's success and is sure Aamir will help the team for film's promotions.
Read: Dance Plus 3: Silchar's Bir Radha Sherpa takes home the winner trophy
The Bareilly Ki Barfi actor who was accompanied by his girlfriend Patralekha at the event also said that the team will meet and plan a strategy to promote the movie in America.
Newton has turned out to be one of the best Bollywood movies this year. The Amit V Masurkar directorial revolves around an officer who is on a mission to hold free and fair elections in a naxal-controlled town in Chhattisgarh.
The movie also stars Pankaj Tripathi, Raghubir Yadav and Anjali Patil in important roles.
Read: I really miss my beard badly, says a sentimental Ranveer Singh
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New Delhi:
The Baadshah of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan is one of the few actors counted among the top rung of global achievers at the highest level and if one were to attribute his super success to the tutelage of Barry John it wont be an understatement.
But the man himself, i.e. Barry John does not want to take any credit for creating King Khan.
On the sidelines of the Jagran Film Festival in Mumbai, John said, "I didn't create Shah Rukh Khan and I take no credit for that."
On being asked the reason for saying so Barry said, "It's a fact. We came together, we worked in theatre together for a while. It was mostly enjoyable and beneficial to both of us. But then he moved on, he is on another planet now. I don't have any communication with him."
Apart from Shah Rukh, Barry has taught several Bollywood stars like Manoj Bajpayee, Frieda Pinto, Richa Chadha, Arjun Kapoor, and Varun Dhawan among others.
Barry feels that the young actors today have different aspirations but he sees nothing wrong with that.
When asked if the aspiration to attain stardom can corrupt good actors, Barry says, "It's a necessary evil" but it should not overshadow other aspects of filmmaking.
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New Delhi:
The 1997 Man Booker Prize winning author Arundhati Roy launched a veiled attack on Pakistan by calling all governments opportunists.
Roy made this statement after Pakistans Permanent Representative to the UN Maleeha Lodhi while addressing United Nations General Assembly used a quote made by her in 2015.
Roy had said in a statement that the "whole population of Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, and Christians are being forced to live in terror."
Lodhi was replying to India foreign minister Sushma Swarajs hard-hitting speech against Pakistan made on Saturday.
Much of what is in the air in India now is pure terror, in Kashmir, in other places, Lodhi quoted Roy's statement from an article she had written for the Indian Express during the 'Award Vapsi' campaign in 2015.
Also read: UN Assembly: Pakistan diplomat goofs up, brandishes 2014 Gaza Strip image as one from Kashmir
"All governments and their spokespersons are opportunistic. That cannot become a reason for writers and journalists not to write what they have to write," she told Outlook.
Also read: UN General Assembly: Pakistan diplomat piggybacks on Arundhati Roys statement to target India
Arundhati Roy had returned her National Award in 2015 as part of what she called an "unparalleled political movement against ideological viciousness" which was used by Lodhi in her speech who cited Roys quotes to condemn the Indian government.
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New Delhi:
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday sought a detailed report from the Varanasi administration on the violence that erupted in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) campus following a lathicharge by police on students protesting against increaing eve-teasing incidents in varsity campus.
"I have sought a detailed report from the Varanasi Divisional Commissioner about the entire incident," Adityanath talking to media said in Lucknow.
A large number of students, including women, two journalists were injured in the lathicharge by Uttar Pradesh Police in BHU campus. Several police personnel were also injured.
The University campus on Sunday evening announced holidays from Monday till October 2.
Yogi-government sought a report from the divisional commissioner about the incident as various political parties including the Samajwadi Party criticised the government and condemned the lathicharge on students by police.
According to police, violence in the varsity campus erupted after some students protesting against the alleged eve-teasing incident of Thursday wanted to meet the BHU Vice Chancellor at his residence on Saturday night but were stopped by the university guards.
Also read| BHU lathicharge: UP CM seeks report, Cong leader Raj Babbar stopped from visiting varsity, arrested
A BHU spokesperson said, Students wanted to enter the Vice Chancellors residence forcibly but when stopped by the guards there was stone pelting.
He added that they have learnt that outsiders who had joined the students in the protest had pelted stones.
Akhilesh Yadav, former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and Samajwadi Party president condemned the lathicharge on the BHU students.
The former chief minister said, The government should resolve the issue by talks not lathicharge. Stringent action should be taken against the guilty.
On Saturday night BHU had issued a statement saying the dharna by the students just prior to Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit is being politically motivated to malign the image of the varsity.
Also read| BHU: Security forces use lathicharge against protesting students at campus; 4 injured
Senior administrative and police officials reached the BHU campus to control the situation. Around 1500 policemen have been deployed in the university campus to prevent any untoward incident.
The students of the university have been protesting near the BHUs main gate since Thursday against rise in eve-teasing incidents on the campus.
The protest was largely triggered after a woman student was allegedly harassed by three men on motorcycle inside the varsity campus.
According to the complaint lodged by the victim she was returning to her hostel around 9:00pm when she was abused by men on motorcycle. She raised an alert but university security gurads standing 100 meters away from the incident site did not do anything to stop the men.
The victim informed the warden about the incident but was asked, Why was she was returning late to hostel.
The response by the angered the university students, who later sat on dhrana at main gate from Thursday midnight.
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New Delhi :
Police lathicharge on students protesting at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has drawn criticisms across the country. Senior JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav on Sunday came in support of the students and condemned the police act.A
The JD(U) leader tweeted, "Lathi charged on girls and students of BHU is highly condemnable as it is sheer banning of freedom of expression and speech & never happened."
Yadav said that the police's action of lathicharge on girl students is highly condemnable and said the issue will be raised in Parliament.
The trigger happened when a female student of the arts faculty on her way to the hostel was teased and harrassed by three men who were bike borne and latter fled.A
An instant violent clash between the students and the police officials occured which injured several from both sides. The university have announced holliday from September 25 till October
Lathi charged on girls and students of BHU is highly condemnable as it is sheer banning of freedom of expression and speech & never happened a SHARAD YADAV (@SharadYadavMP) September 24, 2017
"It has never happened before at BHU. It is sheer violation of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution," Yadav said in a statement.
"We will raise the issue in Parliament... It is intolerable in a democracy and the government shouldapologise," he said, adding people will take to the streets to protest it. BHU, however, said the protest by the students was "politically motivated" to malign the image of the university.
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Kolkata:
The BSF has enhanced patrolling along 22 sensitive and vulnerable spots in West Bengal and is using local language skills as well as intel to check the influx of Rohingyas into the country.
In most cases, the Rohingyas try to pass themselves off as Bangladeshis if they are apprehended by the BSF, officials said.
To counter this, jawans adept in Bengali language are used for questioning.
If a person crossing the border illegally is apprehended, he is questioned by the jawans. And although Rohingyas try to identify themselves as Bangladeshis, in most of the cases their accent of Bengali betrays them. The accent of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas are a bit different, said a senior BSF official.
A detailed questioning reveals their identity.
Read | Granting refuge to Rohingyas harmful for Indian Muslims: Shiv Sena
The 22 spots are spread across North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, and Krishnanagar districts.
These spots were there but after this issue of Rohingya came up, we have reviewed those sensitive spots from where both Bangladeshis and Rohingyas can cross. We have increased our vigil and are using local skills to identify them, PSR Anajaneyulu, IG, BSF (South Bengal), told PTI.
According to BSF sources in South Bengal frontier, patrolling in those areas has been enhanced and the ground level forces with boosted jawans who are adept in Bengali language.
As many as 175 Rohingyas have been apprehended by the BSF out of which seven were in 2017, BSF officials said.
Read | Rohingyas not refugees because they did not follow due process: Rajnath Singh
The BSF is also enhancing its local source base and working with different central agencies to track the movement and identify Rohingyas.
Of the 4,096-km-long Indo-Bangladesh border, 2,216.7 km is in West Bengal.
Terming the Rohingya refugees as illegal immigrants, the government on September 18 told the Supreme Court that some of them were part of a sinister design of Pakistans ISI and terror groups such as the ISIS, whose presence in the country will pose a serious national security threat.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, described by the UN as the most persecuted minority in the world, fled their homes in Rakhine state in Myanmar recently to escape a military crackdown.
Read | Rohingya crisis: Bangladesh thanks India for 'Operation Insaniyat' to provide relief material to refugees
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New Delhi:
A Delhi University college professor has been booked for allegedly insulting Hindu Goddess Durga in a post on Facebook.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)- affiliated National Democratic Teachers Front on Saturday late had filed a police complaint against the assistant professor of Delhi University.
Police said a complaint has been lodged against Kedar Kumar Mandal.
Mandal had updated the controversial post on Facebook around 7:43pm but later deleted it.
According to Delhi police Mandal was booked under the Indian Penal Code sections 153A and 295A.
Police official said the particular sections are hate speech laws under which an accused can attract imprisonment between three to five years.
RSS-affiliated ABVP too condemned the post and demanded immediate suspension of the professor.
ABVP college unit in a statement said, We demand his suspension and we request students to boycott his classes. Mandal has provoked sentiments during a festival season.
(With PTI inputs)
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New Delhi:
Home Minister Rajnath Singh is set to visit a Sino-Indian border area in Uttarakhand which has witnessed transgression by China, officials said. During the tour to Barahoti, the home minister will interact with the personnel of the Indo Tibetan Border Police which guards the border outpost located at 14,311 feet.
This is the first visit by a senior minister in theNarendra Modi government to China border after the resolutionof the stand-off in Dokalam.
Singh will also visit ITBP border outposts at Rimkhim (altitude 12,500 feet), Mana (10,500 feet) and Auli (10,200feet) during the four-day trip beginning September 28.
There were reports that on July 25, Chinese soldiers had entered 800 meters into Indian territory in Barahoti, Uttarakhand and stayed for sometime before returning to their own territory.
The home minister will also address the probationers of the IAS, IPS and other services at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie. Further, he will interact with central government's additional secretary rank officials there on the first day of the visit.
The home minister is expected to review the situation on the border, address a 'Sainik Sammelan' and assess the progress in various infrastructure projects, an official said.
The 3,488 km-long India-China border stretches through J&K (1,597 km), Himachal Pradesh (200 km), Uttarakhand (345 km), Sikkim (220 km) and Arunachal Pradesh(1,126 km).
India and China were in a face-off situation for more than two months in Dokalam in Sikkim sector after Indians stopped the construction of a road by China's army.
The Sino-Indian border is not fully demarcated and theprocess of clarifying and confirming the Line of ActualControl is in progress. The area is characterised by high-altitude terrain and thick habitation which have resulted in inadequate developmentof infrastructure in these regions.
To redress the situation arising out of lack of infrastructure along border with China, the government has decided to undertake construction of 73 roads of operational significance.
Of these, 27 roads involving 804.93 km are being constructed by the home ministry in J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh atan estimated cost of Rs 1,937 crore.
With PTI inputs
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New Delhi :
Five people were injured on Sunday morning after terrorists hurled a grenade at CRPF camp near SBI branch in Sopore of Baramulla ditrict of Jammu and Kashmir. A
Two CRPF personnel, one policeman and two civilians were among the injured. A
The incident took place at 9:35 am. The injured were taken to hospital, a senior police official said.
On Thursday, militants hurled a grenade at a senior Jammu and Kashmir minister's cavalcade in Tral , killing two civilians and injuring six people, including two policemen, police had said.
#Visuals J&K: Grenade attack near SBI branch in Sopore in Baramulla district. 3 people injured pic.twitter.com/TTI1XyO2j5 a ANI (@ANI) September 24, 2017
Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Public Works Naeem Akhtar, who was on a tour of Tral, had escaped unhurt in the attack.
"The grenade was reportedly hurled at 11.45 am," a police official had said.
J&K: Grenade attack near #SBI branch in Sopore in Baramulla district. 3 people injured.More details awaited a ANI (@ANI) September 24, 2017
He had said two people -- Ghulam Nabi Trag (56) and 17-year- old Pinky Kour -- were killed, while six others including two policemen were injured in the blast.
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New Delhi:
The Indian Army on Sunday busted terrorist hideout in Handwara of Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Army seized huge cache of explosive material, arms, ammunition including anti-aircraft gun.
In a separate incident, a militant was gunned down after an encounter broke out between security forces and militants in Uri area of Baramulla of Jammu and Kashmir.
As per initial reports, the security forces rounded up the militants in the Kalgha area of the district. It is said that 2-3 militants have taken trapped.
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New Delhi:
Indian Army on Sunday busted a terrorist hideout in Jammu and Kashmirs Handawara district and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition.
The 47 Rashtriya Rifles unit of the Indian Army searched the forest area of Chak Kigam Handwara and a large cache of explosive material, arms and ammunition including one anti-aircraft gun.
Lt Gen JS Sandhu, GoC 15 Corp termed the mission successful and informed more such operations will follow in future to bring peace in the region.
Operation All-Out is very successful. We'll continue with operations to try & bring peace to this place (J&K), Lt Gen JS Sandhu, GoC 15 Corp said.
Also Read | J&K: Two intruders killed after Army foils infiltration bid in Uri sector
Earlier on Saturday, the Jammu and Kashmir police had claimed to have seized over 50 litres of illegal diesel in the Nowgam area of Handwara district.
Meanwhile, Pakistan continued to violate ceasefire in along the LoC and two Jawans were injured in Bhimber Gali sector of Jammu and Kashmirs Rajouri district.
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New Delhi:
Pakistan on Sunday violated ceasefire in BG sector of Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir. Two jawans got injured in the ceasefire violation.
In a separate incident in J&K, a militant was gunned down on Sunday after an encounter broke out between security forces and militants in Uri area of Baramulla of Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier on September 13, Pakistan Army initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatics and mortars along the Line of Control in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Two security personnel were injured due to firing by Pakistani troops.
Indian Army retaliated strongly and effectively to the provocation.
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New Delhi :
A militant was gunned down on Sunday after an encounter broke out between security forces and militants in Uri area of Baramulla of Jammu and Kashmir.
As per initial reports, the security forces rounded up the militants in the Kalgha area of the district. It is said 2-3 militants have taken trapped.
The encounter was in progress till last reports came in.
On Friday, Security forces had arrested two militants involved in the attack on SSB personnel at Banihal in Jammu and Kashmir.
"Two militants involved in Wednesday's terrorist attack at Banihal have been arrested and a hunt for the third militant is on," a police spokesman had said.
J&K: Encounter underway between Security forces and terrorists in Uri area of Baramulla. ANI (@ANI) September 24, 2017
He had said the arrested militants have been identified as Gazanfar and Arif.
Also Read | J&K: Encounter breaks out between security forces, terrorists in Shopian district; 1 terrorist killed
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New Delhi:
The concerns over safety of children in schools rose to new levels after the brutal murder of 7-year-old student inside Ryan International School in Gurugram. Now, a Delhi Public School student attempted suicide in Kanpurs Kalyanpur branch on Sunday.
As per reports, the DPS Kalyanpur student attempted suicide allegedly after being troubled by teachers. The student is hospitalised in a critical condition.
The student alleged in the suicide note that he was troubled by teachers and school principal.
Incidents related to schools have significantly gone up since the Ryan International school murder case.
In a separate incident in Uttar Pradesh, two students of Maa Durgaji Senior Secondary Vidyalaya went missing for more than 28 hours in Jaunpur.
As per reports, the Principal of school had beaten them and asked them to go home from school at 12 PM. But, the students failed to reach their homes.
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New Delhi:
A day before the death, senior journalist KJ Singh had spotted a suspicious man moving around his house, his brother BP Singh told the investigators.
Singh had informed his elder brother that "between 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm, he had spotted a person moving around his house. Not only this, the man has also tried to open the gate of his house as well, the police sources said.
KJ Singh, a senior journalist from Punjab, and his 92-year-old mother Gurcharan Kaur were found dead in suspicious circumstances. Their bodies were found at their Mohali house in Phase 3B2 on Saturday.
Singh used to stay with his mother in a one-Kanal corner house, adjacent to a park. Police have also found some footprints along the railing in the park.
KJ Singh had last spoken to BP Singh, who stays in Sector 41, Chandigarh, around 7 pm, said their nephew Preet Inder. The senior journalist had also exchanged some WhatsApp messages with his friends till about 8 pm.
The double murder first came to light at 1 pm on Saturday when KJ Singhs sister Yashpal Kaur reached his house along with her son Ajay Pal. They were there to give them lunch, said Alam Vijay Singh, deputy superintendent of police (city) Mohali.
Also Read: KJ Singh, senior journalist and 92-year-old mother murdered in Mohali
The two found blood on the main door that was bolted from outside and the blood trail led to the rooms where the bodies were found.
Punjab Police have set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case. Initial investigations reveal that the attackers left the crime scene in the victim's car.
Still now, the motive behind the murder remains unclear and police have ruled out robbery Police have ruled out robbery as the reason behind the double murder.
Apart from KJ Singh's green ford Ikon car (PB 65 0164), his mother's and his mobile phones and an LCD television are also missing.
The senior journalist, who was freelancing for a Canadian magazine, had a studio with expensive recording equipment in the house. But nothing from the studio, including the laptop, is missing. Singhs gold chain was also intact.
Police are investigating the case through scanning footage from two closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed a couple of houses away.
According to the police, KJ Singh was stabbed in the stomach and neck. KJ Singh was first stabbed in the stomach near the main door as one of the slippers that he was wearing was found at that place.
KJ Singh's body was found lying on his bed and his mother was found dead with her legs hanging out of the bed.
By observing the crime situation it seemed that Singh had struggled with the attackers as blood was found all over the floor in the room.
I came around 9 am and rang the bell at the gate, but no one answered, so I returned, Rekha told police. Rekha came back an hour later, but no one opened the door again.
Police said the victims family members, too, had been calling him, but he didnt return the calls. The exact time of the death would be known after the postmortem, said DSP Alam Vijay Singh.
Also Read: Gauri Lankesh murder: Karnataka SIT to take help of Scotland Yard; to question brother, Naxal leaders
KJ Singh was single, taking care of his sick mother dedicatedly. Yashpal Kaur, his sister used to stay with them about five months ago. She still brought lunch for them
Her son Ajay Pal said Singh used to cook breakfast and dinner for his mother and even slept in her room to assist her.
KJ Singh used to read a book before going to sleep. But to ensure his mother was not disturbed, he recently purchased a headlight. On Friday, he even received a parcel of an anti-slip mat for his mother.
Ajay Pal said he had talked to his uncle on Friday noon.
He wanted to eat chhole-bhature and we had bought it for him today, he said.
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New Delhi:
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has seeked a detail report on the lathicharge incident on Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on Sunday evening.A
The university has been burning since Saturday night after the police lathicharged on students including girls who have been protesting eve teasing incidents within the varsity campus. A Violence broke between the students and police officials. Injuries were reported from both sides.
Around 1500 policemen and PAC personnel have been deployed in order to maintain law and order. The trigger was an incident in which a woman student of Arts faculty alleged harassment by three men on a motorcycle inside the campus while she was returning to her hostel.
Students at the varsity decided to protest against the incident as the authority denied any kind of support to them. The three men abused her and fled when she resisted their attempts, according to the complainant.A A
"An unfortunate incident took place with one of our students; we're committed to stringent action and did so too," said BHU VC Girish Chandra Tripathi.A
Here are the live updates:
# Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath seeks detail report on BHU incident
# UP Congress Committee chairman Raj Babbar reaches Varanasi, might be arrested on way to BHU
#A Youth Congress stage protest in Delhi against lathicharge on Banaras Hindu University students.
# The university have announced holliday from September 25 till October 2.
# We had information that some anti-social elements will try to disturb the environment of the University: BHU VC Girish Chandra Tripathi.A
Badi maatra mein bahaar se log aaye jinhone iss andolan ko hawa dene ki koshish ki: #BHU VC Girish Chandra Tripathi pic.twitter.com/PXkaDPxmwd a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 24, 2017
# I agreed to their viewpoint. Safety and security is important, will have to consider various aspects with regard to safety in University: BHU VC
Some complained about installation of CCTVs; it is under process. Some girls said University should be more sensitive towards safety: BHU VC pic.twitter.com/hvdQoGz2bU a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 24, 2017
# Some complained about installation of CCTVs; it is under process. Some girls said University should be more sensitive towards safety: BHU VC
# The student initially had complaints with the University, but now that is not the case: BHU VC Girish Chandra Tripathi
# An unfortunate incident took place with one of our students; we're committed to stringent action and did so too: BHU VC Girish Chandra Tripathi
# Students sit-in protest again in the universityA
#A Police chases down female students who were holding peace march in BHU
#A Varanasi: Security increased outside BHU after clashes between students and police personnel last night
Varanasi: Security increased outside BHU after clashes between students and police personnel last night pic.twitter.com/PkHPvj68xu a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 24, 2017
# Centre should find solution by interaction and not by force. Lathicharge on students is condemnable. Action should be taken against culprits, says Akhilesh YadavA
#A Boys were lathicharged but even girls were not spared. We were even given the choicest abuses
Boys were lathicharged but even girls were not spared. We were even given the choicest abuses: Protesting student #Varanasi pic.twitter.com/oZD1VHPj8M a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 24, 2017
#A Students alleged that BHU administration indulged in victim shaming after one student had reported an incident of molestation to them
#A Lathicharge by Police on protesting students at Banaras Hindu University
Lathicharge by Police on protesting students at Banaras Hindu University,clashes also broke out (earlier visuals) pic.twitter.com/StNQxBwM3W a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 24, 2017
The woman alleged that security guards, about 100 metres from where the incident happened, did nothing to stop the men.A She said her warden, instead of taking up the issue with her superiors, asked her why was she returning late to the hostel.
The wardenas response angered the studentas colleagues, who sat on a adharnaa at the main gate midnight Thursday.
One of the students even got her head tonsured.
The protest is continuing. It had forced authorities to change the planned route for Prime Minister Narendra Modias convoy yesterday.
The students said they have to face eve-teasers inside the campus regularly and the varsity administration was not taking any action to stop the miscreants.
Police and BHU professors tried to pacify the students on Saturday, but they refused to end their protest and sought assurance from the university vice chancellor.
A large number of police personnel have been deployed near the campus as a security precaution, said the police.
Last night, the BHU issued a statement saying the adharnaa by the students just a day before Modias visit was apolitically motivateda to malign the image of the university.
The university also said that security guards were regularly patrolling the campus and assistance from the police is sought from time-to-time to maintain peace in the campus. A
With PTI inputs
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New Delhi :
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday delivered his monthly radio broadcast to the nation via All India Radio. Apart from others, one of the main point was that today was the third annivarsary of the popular show.A
The PM congratulated the media in spreading the positive aspects of the clean India mission called Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. In perticular PM Modi congratulated 18 year old Kashmiri youth Bilal Dar who earns a meagre living by ragpicking and has been made the brand ambassador by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation.A
Bilal Dar who is a resident of J&K's Bandipora was overwhelmed when he found his name being mentioned in the PM's address to the nation.A
Speaking to the media an excited Bilal Dar acknowledged his mention in the Mann Ki Baat programme and requested the PM to help him find a job since he is the only earning member of the family.A
Grateful Modi ji mentioned me. It is my request to him to please do something for my employment;there is no one else earning in family:Bilal pic.twitter.com/99QQ3LyyS0 a ANI (@ANI) September 24, 2017
According to reports from Hindustan Times Bilal picked all kinds of plastic trash from the Wular Lake and used to sell it at Rs 150-200 per day. His dedication is noticed by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation and is given an uniform and vehicle to spread awareness. A
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New Delhi:
Pakistans permanent representative to United Nations Maleeha Lodhi attempted to malign Indias image in the UN General Assembly by showcasing fake image of pellet gun victim responding to Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swarajs attack.
Lodhi, exercising the right to reply to Indian external ministers statement that Pakistan is pre-eminent export factory for terror said, Swaraj was indulging in an orgy of slander against Pakistan.
She also accused India of carrying out a campaign of brutality inside Kashmir and crimes against humanity
The Pakistani permanent member to prove her point brandished a photo of a girl wounded badly which showed face of a woman peppered with wounds.
Brandishing the video she said, This is the face of Indian democracy."
In her reply to Indian FM's speech in UNGA, Amb. Lodhi showed a pic of pellet gun injured women frm Kashmir saying this is the face of India pic.twitter.com/StuG3arPoN Pakistan Mission UN (@PakistanUN_NY) September 24, 2017
The photo was also tweeted by official account of Twitter account of Pakistani mission to the UN.
The Photo brandished by Lodhi was taken by Heidi Levine in 2014 inside the Gaza strip. According to details featured in several photo galleries posted online including New York Times in their article said that the girl was injured in an Israeli airstrike. The media had reported that the injured girl to be Rawai Abu Joma.
Also read: Look who is talking, Sushma Swaraj ridicules Pakistan at UNGA
The girl was injured in 2014 airtsrike two years before unrest broke out in Jammu and Kashmir valley after Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani was gunned down in an encounter by the Indian Army.
Swaraj while addressing the 72nd UNGA session in New York had said, India has risen despite being the principal destination of Pakistans nefarious export of terrorism.
(With Agency inputs)
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New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will share his thoughts in his monthly radio address Mann Ki Baat at All India Radio on Sunday.
This edition of PMs Mann Ki Baat will be a special one as it will complete 3 years on Sunday and will be the 36th address. It will be exciting to see
The programme will be broadcast at 11 am on All India Radio and Doordarshan. Apart from this, it will also be streamed on YouTube channels of the PMs Office and Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
The regional versions of the Mann Ki Baat will be originated by the capital AIR stations in non-Hindi speaking zones immediately after its Hindi broadcast.
ALSO READ: PM Modi condemns Dera violence in Mann Ki Baat address | Heres full text
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New Delhi :
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday thanked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for acknowledging Congress governmentsa vision and legacy for setting up IITs and IIMs in country in UNGA speech.
The Congress vice-president wrote on Twitter, aSushma ji, thank you for finally recognising Congress governments' great vision and legacy of setting up IITs and IIMs.a
Swaraj in her speech asked Pakistani leaders to introspect as to why India is recognised as a global IT superpower while the neighbour is infamous as the "pre-eminent export factory for terror".
Sushma ji, thank you for finally recognising Congress governments' great vision and legacy of setting up IITs and IIMs a Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) September 24, 2017
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New Delhi:
Pakistan on Saturday termed Indian Government 'fascist' and India 'mother of terrorism in South Asia' during its right to reply to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's speech at UNGA.
Addressing the UN general assembly on Saturday, Swaraj tore into the neighbouring country, calling Pakistan a pre-eminent exporter of terror.
In its reply, Pakistan's permanent representative to UN, Maleeha Lodhi, said that India sponsored and aided terrorism against all its neighbours, Pak media reported.
Read | Sushma Swaraj at UNGA: India produced scholars, scientists, Pakistan created terrorists
According to reports, Lodhi termed BJP government a fascist regime and once again raked up the issue of the use of pellets in Kashmir.
India was ruled by a fascist ideology and it should stop supporting across-the-border terrorism, she said.
Referring to BJP's ideological parent, the Pak diplomat reportedly said that the leadership of the BJP government was drawn from the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) that is accused of assassinating Mahatma Gandhi.
Read | MEA envoy slams Pakistan for accusing India of war crimes, terms it 'Terroristan' for exporting global terrorism
New Delhis current political luminaries belong to a political organisation that has the blood of thousands of Muslims of Gujarat on their hands, Lodhi said, referring to the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The Pakistani envoy also criticised Yogi Adityanaths election in Uttar Pradesh, saying the government has appointed a fanatic as the chief minister of Indias largest state.
It is a government, which has allowed the lynching of Muslims.
Lodhi raised the issue pellet gun use in Kashmir by waving a picture of a woman whose face was scarred, with what looked like pellet-gun wounds. She said that Pakistan is open to a comprehensive bilateral dialogue but the agenda must include Kashmir.
Read | Pakistan PM Abbasi accuses India of human rights violations in Kashmir, asks UN to appoint special envoy
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New Delhi:
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will visit the India-China border areas in Uttarakhand which have been witnessing trespassing by Chinas Peoples Liberation Army recently.
According to officials in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Singh will be visiting Barahoti and interact with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which has the responsibility of guarding the border outpots at an altitude of 14,311 feet.
The MHA officials also said that the minister will be visiting Rimkhim (12,500 feet), Mana (10,500 feet) and Auli (10,200 feet) during his four-days trip.
According to MHA officials the home minister will review the situation on the border and assess the progress in various infrastructure projects.
Singh will be in a four-days visit to Uttarakhand and the trip starts on September 28.
The MHA officials also added that Singh will be addressing the probationers of IAS, IPS and other services at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie.
India shares 3,488 km-long border with China, which stretches through Jammu and Kashmir (1,597 km), Himachal Pradesh (200 km), Uttarakhand (345 km), Sikkim (220 km) and Arunachal Pradesh (1,126 km).
The Indian and Chinese troops were in a face-off situation for more than at least two months in Doklam in Sikkim sector after Indians stopped the construction of a road by China's army.
(With PTI inputs)
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New Delhi:
Scientists have been doing wonders one after another over the decades and their popularity has now grown by leaps and bounds. Their achievement has touched such a height that your wisdom may even be measured in a while.
Yes! An atypical study led by a group of researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine has discovered an amazing tool that may even assess the level of wisdom of an individual.
According to researchers, the scale is based upon a conceptualisation of wisdom as a trait with a neurobiological as well as psychosocial basis and they named it after the name of San Diego School of Medicine.
Talking about their latest findings Dilip Jeste, director of UC San Diego Centre for Healthy Ageing has said, "There is evidence to suggest that the level of wisdom is dictated to a large degree by neurobiology, and that distinct regions and systems in the brain govern the identified components of wisdom."
"There are measures now that assess a persons level of wisdom, but they do not incorporate these emerging neurobiological models of the trait. SD-WISE reflects the latest thinking. We believe it may be a useful tool in clinical practice, in addition to its value in bio-psycho-social research, especially investigations into the neurobiology of wisdom and possible interventions to enhance it," Dilip added further.
Also Read: Breastfeeding may decrease risk of asthma in children, says study
The day-long study was conducted on 524 residents of San Diego county, ages 25 to 104, from an on-going longitudinal investigation called the Successful Ageing Evaluation (SAGE) study and researchers mainly focused on physical, cognitive, and psychosocial aspects of successful ageing across the adult lifespan.
At present there are two existing measures i.e., the 12-item Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale and the 40-item Self-Assessed Wisdom Scale and participants went through the SD-WISE along with the two.
"Both scales are well-established and well-respected," Michael Thomas, assistant professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine was quoted as saying.
"They have demonstrated reliability and validity as scientific tools and were good measures against which to compare SD-WISE," Thomas added.
Moreover, the study finds that six specific domains are mainly responsible to define wisdom and quite interestingly all these domains are linked to distinct regions of the brain, based upon neuroimaging and other scientific evidence.
For example, the domain of prosocial attitudes and behaviours, such as empathy, altruism and social cooperation, is facilitated by the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which are located in the front part of the brain and said to be responsible to complex executive functions.
Other domains manage other signifivant factors such as social decision-making, emotional regulation, reflection/self-understanding, tolerance of diverse values, and ability to effectively deal with uncertainty and ambiguity in life.
Also Read | Having coffee on a daily basis may add extra years to your life: Study
Meanwhile, five of those domains are successfully measured by SD-WISE and the study has shown effective distinctions between individuals differing degrees of wisdom.
Researchers along with Dilip Jeste described SD-WISE as a reliable and valid scale and published their latest findings in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.
New Delhi:
Now a days, most of the weight loss surgeries are performed using minimally invasive techniques, but still are not fully safe and secure.
People opt for a bariatric surgery after several usual weight losing techniques and home made remedies fail to do wonders in life of an obsese person.
Latest media reports suggest that, a Chennai woman breathed her last at Lifeline Institute of Minimal Access in KilpaukA while going through the process and was reportedly about of 160 kilos.
There are reports that, A.Valarmathi was a native of Keezhnaachipatti village in Tiruvannamalai district.
Though three children of Valarmathi had also gone under the surgery, the process proved deadly for her as she succumbed to death after facing some serious kind of complications.
Also Read: Now you can measure an individual's wisdom with SD-WISE scale
Talking about Valarmathi's recent demise her husband Alagesan said, "We came for obesity treatment for my wife. Doctors said that they will do weight loss surgery for four in our family. They said that we do not have to bear all the costs and just have to pose for photographs before and after the surgery."
According to sources, the family has spent a huge amount for medicines and consultations till the time and nine more surgeries were scheduled to be done in near future.
After Valarmathis death family members claim that medical negligence is the main reason behind the tragedy and filed a police complaint over the same.
Kilpauk Police registered a case under section 174 of CrPC (suspicious death). The body was moved to the Government hospital for autopsy.
Also Read: Weight loss can reverse Type 2 Diabetes, says study
"The bodies have been sent for post-mortem. Only after the receipt of the post-mortem reports will we approach the Medical Council of India for further action in the case. After obtaining the necessary clearance, we may decide on the further course of action,"A V. Balan, Inspector of Police, Kilpauk was quoted while talking about the same.
New York:
US President Donald Trump warned North Korea, saying if the country's foreign minister was echoing thoughts of his supreme leader Kim Jong-Un in his threatening speech at the UN, "they won't be around much longer."
North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on Saturday attacked Trump at the UN General Assembly, deriding him as a 'mentally deranged' leader whose threats had increased the chances of military confrontation.
"Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at UN. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!" Trump tweeted last night.
In his speech, Ri had said that the US and its allies should "think twice" before threatening his country. He said that by repeatedly calling Kim "Rocket Man,"Trump is making "our rocket's visit to the entire US main land inevitable all the more."
Also Read: 'Not much' of a nuclear deal after Iran tests missile: Trump
The foreign minister also said Trump is a "gambler who grew old using threats, frauds and all other schemes to acquire a patch of land." Ri jumped into the nickname game as well, saying Americans call Trump the "Commander in Grief," "Lyin' King," and "President Evil."
Trump and Kim have traded increasingly threatening and personal insults as Pyongyang races towards its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the US.
Tensions have dramatically risen on the Korean peninsula after North Korea early this month conducted its biggest nuclear test, which its state-run KCNA news agency described as a hydrogen bomb.
Also Read: Kim Jong-Un mocks Trump, calls him mentally deranged: KCNA
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New Delhi:
Myanmar Army have claimed that a mass grave of at least 28 Hindus killed by the Muslim Rohingya militants have been discovered in the violence wracked Rakhine state on Sunday.
A statement posted on the army chief's website said, Security members found and dug up 28 dead bodies of Hindus who were cruelly violently and killed by ARSA extremist Bengali terrorists in Rakhine State."
According the Myanmar Army the murders have been carried out by Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). The groups attacks on army and police posts triggered an army backlash.
The army also said that they have recovered 20 dead women and eight men including six boys under the age of 10 in the graves.
Army officials further said the bodies have been recovered from Ye Baw Kya village.
Also read| Rohingya violence: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres restraint by Myanmar forces to avoid 'catastrophe'
Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay confirmed the discovery of the bodies.
According to United Nations 430,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh in the last few months.
According to Myanmar government around 30,000 Hindus and Buddhists have also been displaced due to the terror attacks by ARSA militants.
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New Delhi:
Due to the security concern, Bangladesh has banned telecommunication companies from selling mobile phone connections to Rohingya refugees. During the ban phase, if any Bangladesh mobile phone provider will give phone plans to nearly 430,000 newly arrived refugees from Myanmar will be fine.
Junior telecoms minister Tarana Halim has justified the ban, saying that the decision to impose a communication blackout on the stateless Muslim minority has done because of security reasons.
Within six months the ban will be lifted as biometric identity cards are issued to the newly arrived refugees.
It is the latest restriction imposed on the Rohingya who have fled in huge numbers from violence in neighbouring Rakhine state into squalid camps in Bangladesh's southernmost Cox' Bazar district in the past four weeks.
The nearly 430,000 refugees have been herded by the military into a handful of overstretched camps near the border, where tens of thousands live in the open without shelter.
Also Read: BSF uses local intel, language skills to curb Rohingya influx
Many have been evicted from squatting in forest and farmlands by police and soldiers, who have been ordered to keep the Rohingya from seeking shelter in major cities and nearby towns.
Roadblocks have been erected along major routes from the camp zones, where a dire shortage of food, water, shelter and toilets is creating what aid groups describe as a humanitarian crisis.
Some 5,100 have already been stopped at these checkpoints and returned to the designated camps, police said.
"We have set up 11 check posts across the Cox's Bazar highway to stop the Rohingya refugees from spreading further toward the interior," Cox's Bazar police chief Iqbal Hossain told reporters.
Also Read: Rohingyas not refugees because they did not follow due process: Rajnath Singh
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New Delhi:
Pakistans permanent representative to United Nations Maleeha Lodhi quoted Indian novelist Arundhati Roy to attack External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the UN General Assembly after she said Islamabad as the worlds greatest exporter of havoc, death and humanity.
Lodhi to target India, piggybacked on the acclaimed writers 2015 statement and stated in the UN Assembly on Saturday, Much of what is in the air in India now is pure terror, in Kashmir, in other places."
Lodhi quoting Roys November 2015 statement siad, These horrific murders are only a symptom. Life is hell for the living too. Whole populations of Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, and Christians are being forced to live in terror, unsure of when and from where the assault would come.
Also read| UN Assembly: Pakistan diplomat goofs up, brandishes 2014 Gaza Strip image as one from Kashmir
The Pakistani diplomat while replying to Swaraj also said, India is a racist and fascist ideology is firmly embedded in Modis government and that its leadership is drawn from the RSS which is accused of assassinating Mahatma Gandhi.
Slamming the BJP government further Lodhi said, The government has appointed a fanatic as the Chief Minister of Indias largest state Uttar Pradesh.
It is a government, which has allowed the lynching of Muslims, added the Pakistani diplomat.
Also read: EAM Sushma Swaraj hits Pakistan left, right and centre at UNGA, top quotes
Swaraj earlier in the day had said that Pakistan was only interested in fighting India and sponsoring state terrorism.
(With Agency Inputs)
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Washington:
US forces carried out six "precision air strikes" against an Islamic State camp in Libya, killing 17 people, the US Africa Command said on Sunday.
The command said the air strikes were conducted on Friday, in coordination with Libya's Government of National Accord, hitting a desert camp 240 kilometers southeast of the city of Sirte.
"The camp was used by ISIS to move fighters in and out of the country; stockpile weapons and equipment; and to plot and conduct attacks", it said in a statement using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State group.
The air strikes were believed to be the first in Libya by US forces since US President Donald Trump took office in January.
Read more: Bodies of 28 Hindus killed by Rohingya discovered from mass grave
The last known US air strikes were carried out in early January under then-president Barack Obama, targeting two IS camps where militants were suspected of actively planning operations in Europe.
The US statement said 17 IS militants were killed and three vehicles were destroyed in Friday's strikes. It provided few other details.
"The United States will track and hunt these terrorists, degrade their capabilities and disrupt their planning and operations by all appropriate, lawful, and proportional means, including precision strikes against their forces, terror training camps and lines of communication, as well as partnering with Libyan forces to deny safe havens for terrorists in Libya", the command said.
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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.
Carol Kaliff / Carol Kaliff
BETHEL Residents are invited to Plumtrees Schoolhouse on Oct. 1 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the schoolhouse.
The schoolhouse was built in 1867 on land donated by Eliza Benedict. As a one-room schoolhouse, it housed students from first through seventh grade. During this time, Bethel had five school districts each with its own schoolhouse. The schoolhouse was open until 1970. At its closing, it was the last operating one-room schoolhouse in the country.
Tuesday
The Milford Chamber of Commerce Tuesday Morning Leads Group: meets at 8:30 a.m. at the Chamber, 5 Broad St., Milford. Call 203-878-0681.
The Rotary Club of Hamden: meets each Tuesday. For meeting time and location please visit the calendar section of their website at www.hamdenctrotary.org.
The Rotary Club of New Haven: meets at 12:15 p.m. at the Graduate Club, 155 Elm St. Call 203-624-3197.
The Rotary Club of North Haven: meets at 7:15 a.m. at the Breakfast Nook, 448 Washington Ave. Visit www.nhrotary.org.
Wednesday
The Rotary Club of Branford: meets from 7:15 to 8:30 a.m. at the Parthenon Diner, 374 E. Main St., Branford. Call 203-315-2444, ext. 450.
The Devon Rotary: meets at 7:30 a.m. at the Bridge House Restaurant, 49 Bridgeport Ave., Milford. Visit www.devonrotary.org.
The Greater New Haven chapter of Toastmasters International: meets at 6:30 p.m. at New Haven City Hall, 165 Church St. Call 203-287-0037.
The Milford Chamber of Commerce Wednesday Morning Leads Group: meets at 8:30 a.m. at the Chamber, 5 Broad St., Milford. Call 203-878-0681.
The Rotary Club of Guilford: meets at 12:15 p.m. at The Maritime Grille, 2548 Boston Post Road, Guilford. Call 203-453-0774.
The Greater New Haven Business & Professional Association: meets at 11 a.m. at 192 Dixwell Ave. Call 203-562-2193.
The Rotary Club of Wallingford: meets at 12:10 p.m. at Il Monticello, 577 S. Broad St., Meriden. Call 203-235-3816.
North Branford Rotary: meets at 6 p.m. at Nataz, 2025 Foxon Road. Call 203-484-7707.
The Greater New Haven Breakfast Club: meets at 8 a.m. at Clarks Pizza & Restaurant, 68 Whitney Ave., New Haven. Email info@rosnerdoherty.com.
The Rotary Club of West Haven: meets at 12:15 p.m. at Apps Ristorante, 283 Captain Thomas Blvd.
Thursday
The Middlesex County Toastmasters: meets from 7-8:30 p.m., Wesleyan University, Exley Science Center (Woodhead Lounge), 265 Church St., Middletown, http://middlesex.toastmastersclubs.org.
The Madison Rotary Club: meets at 8 a.m. at the Madison Senior Center, 29 Bradley Road. Call Robert Anderson, 203-907-9032.
The Clinton Rotary Club: meets 6:30 p.m. at Clinton Country Club, Old Westbrook Road. Call Dee Tully at 860-388-7013.
The East Haven Rotary Club: meets at 5:45 p.m. at Twin Pines Diner Restaurant, 34 Main St., East Haven.
The Milford Rotary Club meets: from 12:15-1:15 p.m. at Gusto Restaurant, 255 Boston Post Road. Visit www.milfordrotary.org.
Friday
The Orange Rotary Club: meets at 12:15 p.m. at Racebrook Country Club, 246 Derby Ave. Call 203-799-2327.
The Milford Chamber of Commerce Friday Morning Leads Group: meets at 11 a.m. at the Chamber, 5 Broad St., Milford. Call 203-878-0681.
Send notices of business events to Business Datebook, New Haven Register, 100 Gando Drive, New Haven 06513 or email to business@nhregister.com, at least a week before the event.
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NEW HAVEN Police have made two arrests in connection with two shootings last weekend in the city.
Dwayne Green, 27, of Kensington Street, New Haven, was arrested Tuesday and charged with first-degree assault, criminal possession of a pistol, carrying a pistol without a permit, first-degree robbery, second-degree larceny and first-degree reckless endangerment.
During the investigation of the shooting, two New Haven police officers spoke with the victim at the hospital, where he was able to provide a good description of his assailant. The man said he rushed to the aid of a woman who was being robbed at gunpoint, and during his intervention he was shot in the groin by Green, police said. Green took the womans bag and fled in a black Nissan Maxima that was familiar to police, according to a police news release.
With the help of Adult Probation and members of the New Haven Police Shooting Task Force, Green was located.
On Sunday, New Haven police were called by a 52-year-old man who said he had been shot two days earlier outside 199 Franklin St., police said. The man told police a ricocheted bullet had struck his ankle.
Phillip Swain Holmes, Jr., 30, of Elizabeth Street, West Haven, was charged with criminal attempt to commit assault in the first degree, unlawful discharge of a firearm, first-degree reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a pistol or revolver. He was arrested while visiting with his probation officer, according to the news release.
The shooting resulted from a heated argument between the victim and Holmes, police said.
This appeared in Tuesday's Washington Post:
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Carter Hill, age 4, was strapped in his car seat and being driven down the highway when he was shot in the head in a road rage incident on Aug. 6. What is just as horrifying is that Carter was one of at least 10 children who was shot in the United States that day. Daily gun violence that maims and kills children is par for the course in this country, and that is the most terrible thing of all.
The struggle to save Carter's life and the cost of his near-fatal injuries were detailed by The Washington Post in the latest installment of a searing series that examines the impact of violence on children. Shot just before midnight in a car driven by his mother, the boy was among the last victims of a stretch of gun violence that day that included a 2-year-old who fatally shot himself in Missouri after he got hold of a gun, a 16-year-old girl killed in Virginia by a bullet meant for someone else and a 14-year-old boy shot to death as he stood on his porch in Chicago.
Analysis by The Post of the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission showed that on average, 23 children were shot each day in the United States in 2015. Of the approximately 8,400 shootings, 1,458 were fatal, a death toll that exceeds the entire number of U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan this decade. The Post's analysis is in keeping with previous studies, including a report published in June in Pediatrics, that have established gun-related deaths as the third-leading cause of death overall among Americans ages 1 to 17.
The impact of gun violence on children - including the trauma to children who survive or witness it - represents a crisis, a serious public-health problem that demands attention. That, as one emergency-room doctor observed, "people just don't want to talk about it" is due in large measure to a national gun lobby that has used its clout to shut down debate and close off consideration of basic and sensible protections that enjoy widespread support. Instead of enacting legislation to require safe storage of firearms - a move that would save countless lives lost to teen suicides and accidental shootings by toddlers - members of Congress who are compliant to the National Rifle Association push unrestricted sales of silencers because of the supposed health crisis to the hearing of hunters.
The surgeon who successfully operated on Carter has treated at least 30 children struck by gunfire in his career. His first night as a neurosurgery intern in 2011 saw the case of a 17-year-old who had been shot "clean through" the back of the head. "There's nothing we can do," the doctor recalls telling the boy's mother.
Congress doesn't have that excuse.
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Charles Art Heidtman waited 72 years to receive the medals he earned while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. They were all delivered within the last year and are now prominently displayed in a shadow box.
While serving in The 8th Armored Division, Company A, the 92-year-old vet received 10 medals, yet on the day the war ended he was sent home empty handed.
I was in England in the hospital, when I got shot, and they wanted me to fall out for my medals, he recalls. I looked at the weather, pouring rain, everything was lousy and I said, To hell with the medals, I didnt go out.
I was a little thick headed then, he admits.
Heidtmans son-in-law, Bob Wilson, was instrumental in obtaining the medals.
It took a year, Wilson says, laughing. Art was mentioning, he has a book here about his army division that we were looking through one day and he mentioned, You know, I never got my medals.
As a Navy Seabees vet, Wilson, of Milford, knew how important it was to get these medals for his father-in-law. With Heidtmans discharge papers in hand the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs Milford office worked with the VA Records Management Center in St. Louis, requesting anything Art was entitled to, recalls Wilson.
The awards were shipped to Wilson and his wife, Heidtmans daughter, Nancy Wilson, as soon as they were received by the St. Louis office. Some of the medals had to be specially ordered and the final ones arrived just about a month ago. Battlezone Army & Navy store in Orange artfully arranged them in the shadow box for Heidtman to enjoy.
The medals include The Purple Heart, The Bronze Star, Combat Infantryman 1st Award WWII, European African Middle Eastern Campaign with three Bronze Service Stars, World War II Victory Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII, Expert Badge with Machine Gun Bar and Rifle Bar, American Campaign Medal and Marksman Badge with Carbine Bar.
I thanked him many times, says Heidtman, pointing to Wilson. He did a lot of work to get them.
Looking at the medals, Heidtman says he should have received two purple hearts. He was shot twice, once in the foot and once in the stomach. It was when he was recuperating from the stomach wound that the war ended and he was sent home, via hospital ship, without his medals.
When Heidtman was 13-years-old his family moved to Guilford where they lived at their family farm, Heidtman Farm, on Long Hill Road. He recalls that his father owned 60 acres of land where Copper Hill Drive condominiums are now located.
Thinking back to when he left Guilford and his family for the frontlines, he says I was glad to leave Guilford.
I fought in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland and Germany. I was armored. I travelled a lot.
His youthful experience driving farm equipment served him well when he reported for training. He was assigned to be a tank driver.
They said What kind of a job did you have before you came here? he recalls. I told them I was a farmer. What did you grow? Potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce. Oh, yeah, did you ever drive a tractor? I said, All day. To which they replied, Good, tanks.
After a year stateside, in Massachusetts and Louisiana, Heidtman landed in Le Havre, France and fought in numerous battles, including the Battle of the Bulge and the European African Middle Eastern Campaign.
He also talks about the hardships he endured while overseas.
It was cold, down below zero in Germany, he says, recalling trudging through snowy conditions with worn boots. We had three pair of socks on. The heels were worn out and the bottom of my feet were worn out.
We damn near froze to death over there and then some of guys had a blanket and where they got it from I dont know. They had a blanket. Jealousy, somebody had a blanket and I didnt.
Then there was the time when his unit came upon a concentration camp during the Battle of the Bulge.
I opened up two concentration camps, he says. Not big ones, small ones.
I told them, Come on, youre free,
He remembers the field of turnips right outside the gates that the prisoners voraciously ate. They were as big as my finger, skinny. They cleaned that field of turnips for something to eat.
When asked if he thought it was heroic for him to free these people he answers, No, I wanted to free them. Thats what youre fighting about over there. Freedom.
Heidtman laughs when he hears the Facebook post about his newly acquired medals, submitted by Nancy Wilson, which has received over 300 likes and 38 comments.
Thats good, he says.
The comments include Bronze State and a Purple Heart, a true hero from the greatest generation. Thank you. From Oliver Bishop, Thank you Mr. Heidtman. I am so glad you got the medals you deserved from so long ago, wrote Veronica Collins Wallace and Thank you for your service and the sacrifices you made to keep us safe, from Jennifer Labbadia-Colon.
After spending three years in the service, getting drafted by President Roosevelt at age 18, he returned to Guilford, but never completed high school. He went on to have a career with the state Health Department Mosquito Control. He worked alongside his brother, Herb, four years his senior, in the program now known as the state Mosquito Management Program.
While the nonagenarian is humble about his sacrifices, he does admit he receives thanks from people at The Gables at Guilford, where he currently lives.
I get a lot of thanks from strangers, downstairs, he says, of his service. Now they sayat the time I did them they werent so great. It was everyday stuff. Thats what youre there for.
I just never think of it anymore, says Heidtman of the war. Thats a long time, 60 year ago.
Heidtman says that while he is happy to have his medals, they dont elicit much emotion.
Why should I have a feeling towards them? he asks.
Im lucky Im not lying over there dead, he adds. Many guys died over there. I got away lucky.
suzipage1@aol.com
P-Square
Peter and Paul of P-Square, one of the most successful singing duo to have ever come out of Nigeria, are once again at loggerheads. When talented twin brothers, Peter and Paul Okoye, of P-Square released their hit tracks, Bank Alert and Nobody Ugly, many of their fans across the globe heaved sighs of relief.
To observers, the fact that the brothers had come together to work in the studio and release new songs meant that they had put their years-old rift between them. How wrong they were!
If latest developments are anything to go by, the Okoye brothers are still not at peace with one another. A pointer to this fact was established when Peter recently informed fans on his Instagram page that the brothers would no longer be performing at some concerts which they had earlier been booked for.
According to insiders, the feud in the family is between Paul and their elder brother, Jude, on the one hand, and Peter on the other hand. It will be recalled that for two years running, Peter has repeatedly stated that the group needs a new manager, as he is no longer comfortable with Jude as their manager.
Meanwhile, Paul wants Jude to continue as their handler; hence the bad blood between them. Jude is also said not to accord Peters wife with the necessary respect, which infuriates her husband.
For the most part of 2015 and 2016, the multi-award winning singing duo did not release any song and did not perform at any concert as a result of their feud. The brothers, at different times, went on social media to denounce one another, with many of their fans pleading with them to bury the hatchet. At the height of the crisis, Paul recorded a song, Call Heaven, insinuating that if their mother, who used to be their manager, was alive, the crisis wouldnt have degenerated to the level it did.
Meanwhile, both brothers have established individual record labels. Peter signed Malcolm and DJ Switch to his P-Classic Records, while Paul invested a lot of effort in promoting the careers of Muno and Lucy, the new artistes signed to his Rudeboy Records. However, when the brothers made up, they seemed to stay action on their record labels. Now that they have re-ignited their feud, it remains to be seen whether they would both pick up the reins of their respective labels from where they left off.
As a result of the crisis, the twin brothers lost a lot of brand equity but they were lucky enough that when they made up, fans accepted them wholeheartedly and the songs they put out became hits.
However, with this latest episode, some analysts and critics have argued that the brothers are pushing their luck too far. It is believed that fans could finally get tired of their shenanigans, and no longer receive them with open arms when next they choose to embrace peace.
Via Sunday Punch
Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has mocked the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, after the US Government stated that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is not a terrorist organization.In a tweet posted on his account on Sunday, Fani-Kayode called out the mumus clapping for Buhari, over his decision to proscribe IPOB.He wrote: America does not see IPOB as a terrorist organisation- US Embassy.O dear. Where are all the mumus that were clapping for @MBuhari?The spokesman for the American Embassy in Nigeria, Russell Brooks, stated that the US is committed to Nigerias unity and would support a peaceful resolution of any crisis in the country.The United States Government is strongly committed to Nigerias unity. Important political and economic issues affecting the Nigerian people, such as the allocation of resources, are worthwhile topics for respectful debate in a democracy.Within the context of unity, we encourage all Nigerians to support a de-escalation of tensions and peaceful resolution of grievances. The Indigenous People of Biafra is not a terrorist organisation under US law, he said.
A run-away former governor has lost a choice hotel in Singapore to the latter day wife he used to launder his loot. The ex-governor is cu...
A run-away former governor has lost a choice hotel in Singapore to the latter day wife he used to launder his loot.The ex-governor is currently under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly benefitting from the $2.1billion arms scandal.Also hanging on his neck is an allegation that he mismanaged N19.8billion public funds while in office.He has refused to honour EFCC invitation CR: 3000/EFCC/ABJ/ASO/TM5/VOL.5/596.It was gathered that the ex-governor used to frequent Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.But following the recent signing of six agreements by Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), he reportedly left Dubai for Singapore.A highly placed source familiar with the ongoing probe of the ex-governor, said the suspect entered into a marriage of convenience with the woman in Singapore with a view to protecting the investment of his laundered funds in the choice hotel.He reportedly bought the hotel in the name of the wife.But the marriage turned into a scam because the wife divorced the ex-governor and took possession of the hotel, the source said yesterday.The suspect has been battling to retrieve the hotel from his wife. It is however doubtful if he can get it back.It was learnt that the ex-governor is now in a serious dilemma.Investigation revealed that over N600million of the $2.1billion arms scandal fund has so far been traced to the ex-governor.Another source said EFCC has been on his trail in connection with the alleged mismanagement of N19.8billion state funds between 1999 and 2007.Documents showed that he collected N600million illegally from the $2.1billion arms deal cash through the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), the source said.Initially, the suspect was based in Dubai but following a close up by detectives, he left the UAE for some countries where he has been on a make-shift life.We are weighing options on how to extradite him in order to bring him to justice. We will explore all legal options.Responding to a question, the source added: The former governor has been giving one excuse or the other for not honouring the invitation of the EFCC.At a point, the suspect said he had a heart-related problem but intelligence report confirmed that he was pretending.Meanwhile, the acting chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu has asked Nigerian youths to take up the gauntlet and become change agents in the fight against corruption in the country.Represented by the head of the Benin Zonal office, Mailafia Yakubu, at an event to mark World Peace Day celebration in Benin City, Magu said the biggest challenges facing Nigeria were the twin evils of corruption and impunity.He charged the youths to imbibe the culture of excellence as future leaders of the country and to shun all forms of criminality.The corrupt and other economic and financial criminals can no longer hide because the Commission is working hard to bring them to justice, he added.Magu said it was disheartening that some youths were involved in advance fee fraud but warned that the prevailing economic challenge was not an excuse to commit crime.He said: I agree that the country is going through a process but it is not an excuse to commit crime, be legitimate in your dealings so you can be the future leaders that you are.
A national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has said restructuring will bring much-needed balance to the country.The former Lagos State governor, however, said he was against the split-up of the country.Tinubus assertion followed repeated pronouncements by President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo that Nigerias unity is settled and not open to negotiation.Tinubu, who was the keynote speaker at the annual dinner of the Kings College Old Boys Association, on Saturday, described Nigeria as a nation that had not sufficiently defined its governance.The APC leader said, We are like the bewildered couple who has got their marriage licence after a lavish wedding, yet neither of them really understands the meaning of marriage or their roles as husband and wife in it.Legally, they are married but functionally, their union is a crippled one. This couple will be at loggerheads until somehow they forge an agreement on what type of home they want and what are their respective duties in making that home come into existence.It is a rather curious lapse that a nation with such diversity as ours has not taken the time to give our legal marriage its proper functional underpinning. In other words, we all lined up to call ourselves Nigerians without gathering to discuss what it meant.We may be defined by political borders and boundaries but we have not glued ourselves to collective purpose and vision. Too many of us are born in Nigeria but not of it. Thus, our society is not a collective enterprise as important to each of us as our own personal endeavour. It is a platform, an arena, to claim whatever one can by whatever means available.Thus, we argue over matters that long ago should have been settled. The longer such fundamental questions fester, the more extreme become the proposed answers. Thus, we have people clamouring for secession in one part of the country and the murmur of such a course grows stronger in other sections.Tinubu noted that blame and recrimination had become the political currency, while statesmanship had fallen in short supply as the dominant urge was to confront instead of reconcile.Constitutionally, we are a federation of 36 states. However, the vestiges of past military rule continue to haunt the democratic road we hew. We function like a unitary state in many ways. We cannot become a better Nigeria with an undue concentration of power at the federal level. Competition for federal office will be too intense, akin to a winner-take-all duel.Those who lose will bristle at the lack of power in the periphery they occupy. They will scheme to pester and undermine the strong executive because that is where they want to be. The executive will become so engaged in deflecting their antics, that it will not devote its great powers to the issues of progressive governance for which such powers were bestowed.Things will be in a constant state of disequilibrium and irritation. Such a situation tends toward the maintenance of an unsatisfactory status quo in the political economy. It is against reform.It would be better to restructure things to attain the correct balance between our collective purpose on (the) one hand and our separate grass-roots realities on the other. We must listen to what is being said so that we can determine what is really meant, he added.Tinubu, however, noted that there were opportunists on the path to achieving balance in the polity.He said, Let us be frank. Many who cry separation do so because their personal ambitions will be better served by such a thing. They believe they will have greater chance at political power under a different arrangement. Yet the cry for separation has gained traction among average people. This is due to the chronic failure of government to meet basic aspirations.If over the years, government had delivered on the promise of growth, prosperity, and justice, those calling for such extreme remedies would be but a small fringe of little consequence.Our task is not to condemn but to listen and understand. I care not at all for this proposed solution. But I dare not discount the concerns and problems that have led many people into advocating such a thing.Here, I want to plainly state my position. I am a firm believer in Nigeria. I believe this land will become a great nation and a leader among other African nations. We can resolve our dysfunctions in a manner that will make this nation rise as a standard of decency, justice and prosperity for all Nigerians.
The recent demolition of the Eke Ukwu Owere market by the Imo State government has assumed a legal dimension. The Owerri community, ho...
The recent demolition of the Eke Ukwu Owere market by the Imo State government has assumed a legal dimension.The Owerri community, host of the demolished market, has taken Governor Rochas Okorocha to court, for pulling down the market.The plaintiffs are demanding N100billion in damages.The community, through 12 representatives, is challenging the illegal removal of traders from the market despite a subsisting suit and a restraining court order.It is praying the state high court to order the defendants to pay it N100 billion as exemplary damages for ?the unlawful and unconstitutional acts.Okorocha, the House of Assembly and the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice are the defendants.The suit was filed by Chief T.O.S Oparaugo and 11 others (for themselves and on behalf of Owerri Community).The community is represented by Chief Unoruka Udechukwu (SAN), who is leading a team of lawyers including two other Senior Advocates of Nigeria K.C.O Njemanze and? N.A. Nnawuchi.In the originating summons, the plaintiffs want the court to declare that? their forceful removal from the market and its demolition despite the pending suit and a restraining court order, without any enabling judicial order, constituted an act of executive impunity and grave violation of the provisions of Sections 6 (1)(2)(3), 36(1), 188(11) and 287(3) of the 1999 Constitution.The community members also asked the court to declare that? by virtue of Sections 6(6)(a) & (b), 36(1), and 272 of the 1999 Constitution, the court has the constitutional power and vires to reverse the government?s action.The plaintiffs say they are entitled to compensation to be determined by the court for injuries and damages caused to them by the Imo State government.?The plaintiffs asked the court to determine whether their removal from the market and its demolition despite the subsistence of a pending suit, and a restraining order, and without any enabling judicial order, does not constitute an act of state executive impunity and grave violation of the 1999 Constitution.The community also wants the court to determine whether by virtue of Sections 6(6)(a) & (b), 36(1), and 272 of the 1999 Constitution , the court has the inherent and constitutional power and vires to reverse the governors action.The plaintiffs asked the court to hold that they are entitled to compensation for injuries and damages caused to them by the governor through his agents.The suit, filed on September 13, is yet to be fixed for hearing.On the morning of August 26, bulldozers accompanied by a horde of armed security operatives, acting on Okorochas orders, stormed Eke-Ukwu Owerri Market, and forcefully evicted the traders, demolished their shops and destroyed wares worth millions of naira.Military men from the 34 Artillery Brigade, Obinze, deployed to maintain law and order during the forceful demolition of the market, shot indiscriminately into the air to prevent any resistance to the demolitions.In the process, operatives allegedly shot a 10-year-old boy, Somtochukwu Ibeanusi, who was reportedly trying to assist his parents to evacuate wares trapped inside their shop.Thousands of traders lost their livelihoods.Okorocha denied reports that at least one life was lost.In a press statement by his chief press secretary Sam Onwuemeodo, the state government denied any death.It described reports of death as wicked rumours.The statement read: It has come to our knowledge, the deliberate and concerted effort being made by some elements who do not love progress to use the relocation of the Ekeukwu Owerri market, to blackmail the government of the day and perhaps cause undue tension in the state.These people who have refused or failed to appreciate the good of relocating Ekeukwu market Owerri to a more acceptable area have been dishing out rumours upon rumours including rumours of people being shot dead. These are wicked rumours.The truth is that the market is governments property and it is the decision of the government to relocate it to a better place and such action could not have led to such incident.The security personnel around the market were there to ensure peace and they played that role professionally.We are also aware that before now the hoodlums who have been using the market and environs as areas of their operations have been threatening fire and brimstone over the governments decision to move the market.
CAPE MAY -- A slender man in a navy blue uniform paces the wide hallway under bright, fluorescent lights.
"Scream at the top of your lungs, over and over and over, what you did to bring yourself in this position," he yells into a megaphone as a dozen young men and women rest a thick double rope on their right shoulders, arms poised to lift on command.
"Do I make myself clear?" he roars.
The recruits tilt their heads back and scream in unison: "Yes, Petty Officer Placencia!"
A siren begins to blare, a whistle starts to blow in rhythm, and the Coast Guard recruits push the rope over their heads and onto their opposite shoulders -- back and forth, back and forth, until the corridor smells like the sweat dripping down their foreheads and glistening on their biceps.
Across the hallway, five seaman recruits hold mock M16 rifles in sniper position, pointing them just above the heads of their fellow trainees. All of the recruits call out the mistakes they're being punished for:
"Need to be louder!" one yells.
"Shave my neck!" says another as medical staff look on, watching for any movements that could be dangerous.
"Eyes on the boat!" screams a third.
This is the U.S. Coast Guard's only boot camp, producing 3,500 new guardsmen each year.
On a 352-acre peninsula along Cape May Harbor, Training Center Cape May is a self-contained universe, complete with a medical clinic, a marketplace, a non-denominational chapel and its own police force. This summer, NJ Advance Media was granted rare, behind-the-scenes access to the campus, which has produced every new enlisted Coast Guardsman for the past 36 years.
"We won't just let anybody onto the fleet," Petty Officer 2nd Class Reilly Burrus said as she watched her company one August morning. "We need to make sure that only the strong get through this."
The training center complements the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, a four-year college in New London, Connecticut, that produces the service's commissioned officers -- guardsmen of higher ranks than enlisted members.
At any point in the year, eight different companies of recruits are training in Cape May, each made of 95 to 115 trainees at various stages of the 53-day program. Roughly 80 percent will make it through and graduate to jobs on Coast Guard fleets that will pay them about $21,520 in annual base pay.
Seaman recruits fight a simulated fire at Coast Guard Training Center Cape May. Cape May, N.J., 8/17/2017. (Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
'The future of the U.S. Coast Guard'
At 7:25 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 17, 112 recruits sit silently at attention -- backs straight, eyes ahead and hands flat on their thighs.
Thirty-six hours earlier, they arrived on base from Philadelphia International Airport to be greeted by their company commanders, who screamed at them to run off the bus and into Sexton Hall, where new recruits stay.
Their first day was spent getting haircuts and learning grooming rules. Men got buzz cuts; women's hair was sheared so it reached no further than the top edge of their shirt collars. Earrings, hair coloring and tattoos on the neck or below the wrist are not allowed.
Next, the recruits go through blood tests, X-rays and mental health screenings, and get anti-viral vaccines, part of the $800,000 the training center spends on immunizations each year.
Over the rest of the program, the recruits take classes, undergo physical training, assimilate into military culture and learn nautical skills to perform the Coast Guard's primary functions: search and rescue, law enforcement and national defense.
In a training building that Thursday, a separate group of eight recruits in their fifth week stand in a row. The entryway is dark, and the recruits scramble to put on firefighting gear as quickly as possible. An instructor rushes them along.
"Put your boots on!" he calls out as he shines a flashlight on their feet. "It's an emergency!"
The recruits scramble into lines of four, their right hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them. They follow each other into a dark, cavernous room as smoke and noise -- screeching and unintelligible yelling -- overwhelm their senses.
Using hoses on the ground as guides, the recruits rush toward screens on the wall simulating fires and aim the water at them. As the instructor yells commands over the din, the recruits twist nozzles to change the width of the streams. Once they've extinguished the fake fires, they follow each other out of the room.
Recruits get 65 total hours of firefighting, seamanship and marksmanship training during their time at the training center. It's a part of the program's mission to first teach them the Coast Guard's ethos and then train them on how to serve, said Captain Owen Gibbons, the training center's commanding officer since June 2016.
"We spend time teaching recruits initially to be good recruits," said Gibbons, a sturdy man with close cut, salt-and-pepper hair who enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1985. "Then we develop their skill sets so that they develop some of the specific knowledge and abilities that they'll need on the job."
At the training center, each moment is difficult, and everything has a purpose.
Company commanders wake up recruits at 5:30 a.m. with whistles and yelling. They have 15 minutes to scramble out of bed, into their uniforms and outside their 65-bunk-to-a-room barracks. For the rest of the day, until lights out at 10 p.m., every moment is regimented. They move in formation, sit and stand at attention, and speak only when spoken to.
The recruits learn what's expected of them as Coast Guardsmen and practice managing intense stress in a controlled setting.
If they can handle it, they'll fulfill the gold letters above Sexton Hall that read, "Through these doors pass the future of the U.S. Coast Guard" and join 38,000 guardsmen serving on active duty.
A company commander instructs a seaman recruit outside the barracks at Coast Guard Training Center Cape May. Cape May, N.J., 8/17/2017. (Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
Survival of the fittest
Across the galley, where recruits go for three meals a day, company commanders loom in trainees' faces, demanding they recite information about the chain of command or berating them for breaking a rule -- moving too fast or too slow, keeping items in the wrong pockets or failing to address their commanders correctly.
One recruit exits the food line with his tray of blue Gatorade and orange juice, and his commander yells at him to name the battalion officer. As the recruit starts to answer, the commander yells back: "Too late! I'm tired of waiting!" Another commander screams that the recruit has five seconds to get to his seat and he scurries to a table, where the rest of his company is eating silently amid the chaos.
Not everyone handles the manufactured stress well.
Through the Recruit Aptitude and Motivation Program, 15 of the weakest recruits from the five companies furthest in their training spend all of their non-class time undergoing physical training as motivation to work harder. These recruits wear red vests and are separated from their companies until their commanders deem them ready to return, usually a few days later.
"It breaks you down," said recruit Chris Schubert, 20, of Tampa, Florida, who was trying to get rid of his red vest. "But when you get back to your company, you'll be physically and mentally stronger than a lot of people because you went through this program."
If a recruit still can't keep up, his commander can hold him back one or more weeks for extra training. The eight-week program can quickly become nine weeks, 10 weeks or longer.
Even with remedial work, nearly one in five recruits leaves the training center without graduating. Recruits drop out because they have a medical issue, experience a family emergency or fail to meet the service's knowledge or physical fitness standards, Gibbons said. Sometimes, he said, they leave because they're overwhelmed by the responsibility of a job in the Coast Guard.
The training program is essentially an eight-week job interview, said Chief Brandon Wheeley, the lead company commander of X-Ray Company 194.
"We never get calls on good days. We don't get calls in good weather," he said. "If there's anyone that should be able to get on their way and drive that ship up a tick's behind in a hailstorm, backwards, the Coast Guard should."
Some of the 84 members of Tango Company 194 stand at attention during graduation at Coast Guard Training Center Cape May. Cape May, N.J., 8/17/2017. (Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
'The enormity of what they've done'
Outside the gymnasium on Friday, Aug. 18, 84 members of Tango Company 194 march past their families and into the room where they will finish their transition from civilians to men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard.
"I'm a steamroller, baby. Just rolling down the line," they chant. "So you'd better get out of my way now, before I roll right over you."
The Coast Guard first came to Cape May in 1924, when it ran air facilities in support of the U.S. Customs Service. The Navy took over the base during World War II and gave the land back to the Coast Guard in 1946.
Two years later, the Coast Guard transformed the base into a boot camp, the East Coast version of its training center in Alameda, California. The service centralized its training program in Cape May in 1981 and has since graduated about 110,000 recruits, each of whom specializes in seamanship or firefighting.
The marching recruits enter the gym in five columns as a band plays and their supporters cheer. After several speeches, the recruits step up one by one to receive their certificates as their names and assignments are read. They will deploy only days after they graduate.
The training center's commanding officer had told families earlier in the day that their job was to help their new guardsmen "understand the enormity of what they've done."
Wendi Rutigliano-Olsen, of Miami Beach, Florida, needed no reminding.
She said her son, Jake Scheiner, had arrived at the training center thinking he was prepared, but quickly started questioning his ability to finish. By the end of the program, though, he was confident, motivated and inspired, Rutigliano-Olsen said.
"That's going to always be there in his mind now," she said. "When he comes to something, whatever the hurdle is, he just has to stick through it and work through it, and he could do it."
Haley Prendergast, 21, was headed to Corpus Christi, Texas, for her first assignment after boot camp.
"It's probably the best thing I've ever done in my life, probably the hardest and also the worst," said Prendergast, of Greybull, Wyoming. "But at the end of the day, it's probably the best thing."
When her name is called, she steps forward and salutes her husband, a Coast Guardsman, who hands her her certificate. Her face initially stoic, she grins as she shakes his hand before he pulls her in for a hug. The crowd cheers as Prendergast steps away and the rest of the service's newest guardsmen accept their certificates.
Later, the group stands at attention.
A commander disbands the company and a flood of people rush the floor from the bleachers to reunite with their loved ones for the first time in eight or more weeks.
Mothers, eyes glassy, hug their sons. Four new guardsmen with their arms around each other face their moms, each with her own camera phone. A young woman wraps her arm around her boyfriend, a new graduate, and rubs his back.
Within days, the Coast Guard's newest members will spread across the nation: Owensboro, Kentucky. Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Yankeetown, Florida. South Padre, Texas. And onward.
Their weeks in Cape May were only the prelude to the four years, six years or longer they will serve as active-duty members of the nation's oldest continuous maritime law enforcement agency.
"Cape May, simply as a destination, is part of the Coast Guard's DNA," Gibbons said. "It is the place where we are born into this Coast Guard family."
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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WOODBURY -- A Gloucester County grand jury has indicted three men on charges that they forced a minor to have sex with 15 men for cash in a motel room over a two-day period.
Ali J. Brown, 25, of West Deptford, and brothers Brandon R. Samuel, 26, of Gibbstown, and Joseph A. Samuel, 25, of New York City, are charged with human trafficking, promoting child prostitution, endangering and conspiracy.
In December 2016, investigators with the Camden County Prosecutor's Office found a 17-year-old runaway at the Motel 6 in Gibbstown.
They had received a tip that she was advertising sexual services online and that Brown and the Samuel brothers had "assisted" her in meeting 15 males for sex on Dec. 11 and 12 in a room at the motel, according to criminal complaints.
The teen told investigators with the Camden and Gloucester County prosecutor's offices that she was required to turn over money she earned from the sex acts to Brown and Joseph Samuel, even though the three had originally agreed to split the money equally.
The Samuel brothers reserved the rooms where the sex acts took place, investigators said. The three are also accused of photographing the teen naked in order to advertise for additional clients.
Brown and Brandon Samuel were arrested in July and U.S. Marshals arrested Joseph Samuel later that month at his workplace in New York.
The Samuel brother remain jailed in Salem County Correctional Facility. Brown was released July 18, according to jail records.
Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.
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.
10 things to know about the Pelicans heading into training camp
As a business owner, mother of two, Army veteran and breast cancer survivor, Bobbi Calderon exhibits courage daily.
When she was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer in 2013, she received help from Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospitals Spirit of Courage fund, which helped to pay off some of her medical bills and allowed her to focus on healing without worrying about the financial burden.
When youve been diagnosed with cancer, the last thing you want to worry about is how you are going to pay the bills, said Bobbi, who lost her mother and grandmother to breast cancer. They took some of the stress away and made my treatments and recovery so much easier.
Bobbi returns the favor each year by giving back during MJEHs month-long Pink Out. This years Wash Away Breast Cancer event is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 14 at her business, Home Style Laundry & Dry Cleaners, 900 Woodbury Ave. All proceeds will go to support the annual Spirit of Courage event. There will be prizes, raffles and games.
For more information, go online to jehfoundation.org.
Editors Note: This is the first of six installments of an information security column provided to The Nonpareil to help our readers be smart and stay safe when it comes to electronic information, privacy and avoiding identity theft. October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month.
Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus, recently notified the public about a security breach potentially affecting 143 million U.S. customers.
Breach notifications like this have become so common in the past few years that many people just ignore them. However, this breach is particularly bad, and you should take some actions to protect yourself.
While you have probably never done business directly with a credit bureau, odds are they have extensive files on you if you are a working adult. Credit bureaus make money by buying, selling and trading your personal information to companies looking to do business with you, such as banks or employers.
The stack of papers you sign when you get a new credit card or loan usually includes a privacy policy, which, instead of protecting your privacy, typically says that you allow the company to sell your data to third parties like credit bureaus.
Even if you only use cash, when you apply to get a new job, most companies require a background check which usually includes a credit check and employment history verification through a credit bureau.
At this point, you should just assume your personal information is on the internet, including your full name, Social Security number, birth date and address. In other words, theres more than enough information for a hacker to steal your identity and open new lines of credit in your name.
You need to do a few things now to protect yourself from potential fraud:
Security Freeze. A security freeze on your credit file basically means that businesses cannot request a copy of your credit file, which they do when they are looking to offer you credit or performing a background check.
Credit bureaus make money from your credit file, so they typically want your file to not be frozen, but they are required by state laws to freeze it if a consumer requests it. Ideally, you want your credit file frozen at all times unless you are actively seeking credit or employment.
Freezing your credit does not affect your current credit cards or loans, so it does not impact your daily life. If you are looking to open new credit or need a background check, you will need to temporarily lift or unfreeze your credit file.
When you freeze your credit, the credit bureau will provide you a personal identification number that is your password to unfreeze your credit later. Make sure you keep this PIN in a safe place.
Because credit bureaus make money from selling access to your credit file, they charge fees for freezing and lifting freezes on your file though they will happily unfreeze it permanently for free.
Fees are set by state law and vary by state. Remember that you have to pay a fee to each of the three credit bureaus each time you freeze or lift the freeze on your file. Equifax is waiving the fee for all freeze requests submitted by Nov. 21.
In Iowa, it costs $10 to freeze your file and $12 to lift a freeze thats per credit bureau. In Nebraska, the fee is $3 to either freeze or unfreeze your file.
Visit each of the three major credit bureaus to request freezes
Free Credit Reports. The easiest way to make sure you are not a victim of identity theft is to regularly check your credit report.
Federal law requires credit bureaus to allow you to get a copy of your credit report free once per year. The best way to take advantage of this is to request a report from a different bureau every four months, so you can check your credit file for identity theft three times per year instead of just once.
The three major credit bureaus setup a single website annualcreditreport.com to request free credit reports. Dont be fooled by look-alike and sound-alike websites that charge a fee.
Credit Monitoring. While it doesnt prevent identity theft, credit monitoring does alert you if somebody tries to open new credit.
Many banks, employers and insurance companies are offering credit monitoring for free or for a nominal fee. Check with your trusted providers if you want to add this service.
Prescreened Credit Opt-Out. Identity thieves may take advantage of your good credit when companies send you pre-approved credit applications.
A credit freeze will prevent companies from obtaining your credit file, but they may still offer you credit based on old or other information. You can opt-out of prescreened credit applications and reduce your junk mail at home. Visit optoutprescreen.com to submit a request.
Do Not Call List. Another way thieves obtain your personal information is through scam phone calls, where they trick you into providing or verifying information.
The best way to reduce the amount of scam calls you get is to enroll in the National Do Not Call List. If you continue to receive unwanted calls after enrolling, you can report those calls to the Federal Trade Commission and help get those scammers shut down.
Visit the FTCs program website donotcall.gov to enroll in the Do Not Call List or report unwanted calls.
Watch Out for Scams. Several scams began to spring up after the Equifax notice, where scammers pretending to be Equifax ask people for their Social Security number to verify if they were affected.
No respectable company will ever call or email to ask for your personal information. Only ever provide information if you initiate the call or email to a company you know and trust.
Keelan T. Stewart is an information security analyst for Boys Town and Certified Information Systems Security Professional. Email him at keelan.t.stewart@gmail.com.
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A training facility that southwest Iowa and metro-area K-9 police officers can finally call their own is closer to becoming a reality.
Mary West, the co-founder of both the Omaha-based West Corporation and the California-based Gary and Mary West Foundation, made a personal $100,000 donation to the Omaha Community Foundation to go toward the K-9 facility. The foundation then donated it to the Bellevue Public Safety Foundation, which will use it toward the facility.
Bonnie Knutson, president of the Bellevue Public Safety Foundation, said they were elated by the news that their multi-jurisdictional facility is that much closer to breaking ground.
There are a few areas we have in mind, but our goal is $300,000, and we have a way to go, Knutson said.
Jim Bartley, Bellevue Police Department K-9 instructor, said over the last few years, he and other area K-9 officers suffered frustration when trying to train together, as the location of the training site was always temporary or hard to find.
We are losing sites. Some of the buildings weve used have been torn down or get remodeled so we rely on using city-owned land to train at, Bartley said.
The idea came to raise funds for their own facility. An architectural company drafted plans for Bartley free of charge after they turned to social and local media in search of funding.
It reached the Wests, and then the check for $100,000 came. It was unbelievable, Bartley said. We need a place we can go and train and, well, land is expensive.
Council Bluffs K-9 Officer Ty Boldra shared Bartleys excitement.
You have to worry about insurance and city code, Boldra said. Theres a lot of steps to go through. I think, if we could train at a dedicated spot, it would bring the teams performance to a higher level.
Thats not to mention it would be much more convenient, he added.
Beyond the donation, funding stands at $106,000 the effort has raised so far. Law enforcement from Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, Papillion, Omaha and elsewhere in the area on both sides of the Missouri River have expressed interest and joined the effort, Bartley said.
The estimated 60- by 45-foot building would be used by 10 to 13 agencies in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska. Its location has yet to be determined, but would be placed on vacant city land, likely in Bellevue.
The facility will feature a classroom, several house-like training rooms, a dirt training room and a training lot with vehicles parked outside.
The Bellevue City Council approved a measure in its 201823 Capital Improvement Plan to fund the K-9 training facility, paid partly through bond money.
Bellevue City Administrator Joe Mangiamelli said potential locations and the cost of construction still need to be figured out before the city council can approve anything.
Hailey Stolze of the BH News Service contributed to this report.
Walshs financial experience is a big plus for the city
My wife Emma and I are retired CPAs, and we like the fact that Mayor Matt Walsh brings years of experience in banking and finance to city government. Matt watches the citys budget carefully, understands whats going on, and looks for more efficient ways to do things.
He had to administer changes when he was in banking, and, during his first term as mayor, he has made changes that are good for Council Bluffs.
Matts background in business also helps him work well with people. He listens to questions asked by city residents, gathers information and analyzes issues thoroughly. Before making a decision, he looks at whats best for the whole community and not just one special interest group. If people disagree with him, he does a good job of explaining the reasons for his decisions.
During his time in the City Council and as mayor, Matt has worked hard to move our city in a positive direction. We need to re-elect him so he can continue moving Council Bluffs forward.
Ed Chance, Council Bluffs
Thank you for returned gift card
Last week while shopping at the Hy-Vee on Madison Avenue, I lost a gift card with a remainder of $64. I use many gift cards, so I always put an address label on them.
I hadnt even missed it before, to my surprise, the next day I received it in the mail, sent by Brett Stewart, a Hy-Vee customer service agent. With it came a note from Mr. Stewart saying that someone had found it and turned it in.
I thank the customers and employees at Hy-Vee for being so honest and thoughtful.
Pat Hutcheson, Council Bluffs
We need to re-elect Mayor Matt Walsh
Im a member of the CB Ambassadors. At the ribbon cutting for each new business, Mayor Matt Walsh is always on hand to thank the owners for their investment in Council Bluffs. When he welcomes them to the business community, you can feel the love and pride that he has for his hometown and how proud he is to serve as our mayor.
Matt served on the City Council for 18 years before becoming mayor. It takes time to learn any new job, but now he has four years of experience and is doing great. He has established a very good relationship with Omahas mayor, and they work well together to improve the metro area.
Tom Hanafan was an excellent mayor, and so is Matt. We need to re-elect Matt Walsh and let him continue helping Council Bluffs grow.
I moved to Council Bluffs in 1948 when I was 18 years old. At 87, Im still very active in the community. I feel the need to get up every morning and see what I can do to help the people that I love and the city that I love. Matt has the same level of commitment to our community.
Donna Pritchard, Council Bluffs
Most deer hunters are familiar with chronic wasting disease (CWD). Now there is something new to worry about. CWD is a type of brain-damaging disease known to be a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) or prion disease in deer, elk and moose.
There are three other TSE diseases that make the news occasionally:
Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle
Scrapie in sheep
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans
Humans are not susceptible to sheep scrapie, but BSE did infect about 200 people in Europe in the 1990s. Those findings provided the rationale for a current CWD study being conducted in Canada. This particular study started in 2003.
Macaque monkeys contracted chronic wasting disease after eating meat from CWD-positive deer, according to Canadian researchers. These monkeys where fed infected venison over a three year period.
The quantity of meat fed to the monkeys equates to a human eating a 7-ounce steak per. That is not much venison, and I eat far more than that when I have venison in my freezer.
Three of the five macaques in the study that were eating venison contracted the disease. This finding is the first scientifically documented transmissions of CWD to a primate eating diseased venison.
Because the macaque has a genome very close to that of a human, the results have heightened concerns of human susceptibility to CWD. Researchers and health officials have long wanted to know more about the potential for interspecies CWD transmission.
According to the Alliance for Public Wildlife, a Canadian-based wildlife conservation organization, hunting families in North America eat between 7,000 and 15,000 CWD-infected animals every year. No cases of CWD transmission have been documented.
This study does not mean people will get CWD, said Dave Clausen, a Wisconsin veterinarian, deer hunter and former chairman of the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board. But it means people need to be considering that possibility.
Another test group of monkeys had CWD infected venison rubbed on their skin did not contract the disease, so it appears that simply coming in contact with infected venison offers a very low risk to a hunter.
The World Health Organization, the federal Center for Disease Control and many state wildlife agencies recommend that hunters do not eat the eyes, brain, spinal cord, spleen, tonsils or lymph nodes of any deer. It is also recommended that wear rubber or latex gloves when field-dressing carcasses, and to bone out the meat from the animal as an extra caution.
Im sure we will be hearing more about this in the future. Nebraska hunters can visit the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission website and read more about this CWD study and the extra precautions and testing that Game and Parks has implemented for the 2017 deer seasons.
Gun show news
Next weekend is the Platte Rover Sportsmens Club Gun and Knife Show at the D&N Event Center. The show hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $5, and kids 12 and younger are free when accompanied by an adult.
You can make a whole day of it because lunch and snacks are available on the premises. This has grown into a very nice show and you may need all day to get through everything. Whatever you are looking for in guns, ammo or accessories, you have a good chance of finding it here.
Even though this is advertised as a gun and knife show, thats not all there is to see. Additional vendors include Mustang Purses, which specializes in concealed carry handbags. Maybe you are looking for a way to keep your gun out of sight, but not locked away in a vault. Check out the Shelf Reliance folks. They sell shelving units designed to conceal firearms from the casual observer.
If youre looking for something really unique, check out Metal Art by Jenson Hot Point Metal Works will be at the show. They can make any kind of custom metal sign. R. Schutte Artworks will also be at the show with custom lapidary jewelry. Very cool! Looking for a wildlife print for your den or office? You can find this at the show too.
Fat Boys Smokehouse will be there with a selection of their wares. And if you are looking for a custom knife, check out Sharp Precision Knives.
Last but not least, make sure you check out the various raffle and door prizes. For more information, contact John Christiansen at 308-530-1658.
In an old farm building one early September afternoon, Thad McDermott knelt to view two old dessert tins. The first, he announced to Dick Hasenauer, would bring quite a bit more money than the second, which was made years later.
As owner of McDermott Auctioneer Service, McDermott gets to be auctioneer, appraiser, marketer and in some cases, keep the peace between a tense family after someones death. His wife, Lucinda, helps manage the business. Others take bids and record them from the ring, where the auction is going, such as at Saturdays auction for the late Ralph Hasenauer, Dicks brother.
The business, and the auctions, have changed with technology, Internet and social media. But what makes auctions so attractive to the couple will never change.
In 1998, Thad went to a two-week program at the Worldwide College of Auctioneering in Mason City, Iowa. The students were taught speed, but also clarity. Growing up near Wellfleet, Thad always wanted to be an auctioneer, crediting The Auctioneer, a 1956 song by Leroy Van Dyke.
But when he returned, Thads dreams shifted, and he attended college in Colby, Kansas, to study communications and broadcasting, his hopes set on radio. Thad never lost site of his love of auctioneering he auctioneered at different fundraisers in college, and returned home to start his business in the early 2000s.
Over the years, he reconnected with Lucinda, a college friend, and the two were married in 2009. As Lucinda became more involved, she enjoyed the business management and graphic design side, she said ahead of Saturdays auction.
Together, the couple enjoys setting up the auctions, laying out and merchandising items to look as attractive as possible. Long before the sale, theyve already met with the families to look over merchandise and tell the families about what to expect out of the belongings.
In Hasenauers case, that meant a field of antique tractors and trucks to be auctioned in early October, and the toy tractors and smaller antiques at Saturdays auction. Other times, Thad has to tell families the belongings wont bring as much money, or he combines two family auctions to make it more attractive.
Thad also auctions off livestock and does a weekly cattle auction in Broken Bow. The best auctioneer, he said, is one who is versatile.
Early on in his career, Thad remembers stacks and stacks of books for product valuations. Today, he can use a quick Google search or specific online references.
From past sales and experience, you know what things are worth, Thad said. Even with a world of online resources, his advice to the new auctioneer is to go to a hardware store and price tools, and an auto lot and price cars.
Thad still finds himself learning and surprised. Hell decide one item wont bring in the big dollars, just to watch bids climb and climb as he auctions it off. Other items wont bring in as much money.
He came back to the auctioneering world for the people, he said.
At the auction, people make a decision and have less than a minute to buy something, Thad said. He enjoys the energy as the bids climb. He also enjoys meeting the people. He knew Ralph Hasenauer as a neighbor growing up on his Wellfleet farm and ranch and became closer with him as he saw him at auctions.
Still, ahead of the auction, Thad researches he cant say how many hours of his business consists of research.
You research until you know, he said.
As hes auctioneering, Thad incorporates patience and humor. He markets the item as he speaks about it, and has found that if you pause and let a bidder think, then theyll bid again.
For Thad, the pause often comes the way of a joke. As he auctioned off pedal tractors Saturday, he told the crowd, Ill tell you what, if it comes down to (choosing) your power bill or your light bill, just buy the tractor.
When one bidder bowed out, he looked over.
You want to stay married, he said. I understand.
The energy filled the room, and Thads voice, as the toy tractors bids climbed into the thousands. One went for $3,100. People often cheered once Thad said, sold!
As he spoke ahead of the auction, he said, you never know what it will be the day of the sale.
Lucinda and Thad live on his family farm and ranch near Wellfleet.
We farm, we ranch and we run an auction business, Thad said.
In the early days, I would imagine there were some long talks in our house, Thad said. Is this the right profession for us?
The auctioneering took word of mouth, advertising and in some cases, free or cheap gigs church fundraisers and auctions just to get his name out there.
About the time you dont think youll have one auction, youll get four or five, he said. He recalled the spring of 2016, when the company juggled a big machinery one Saturday, another auction that week and another the next weekend.
And a newborn, Lucinda said. The couple has two young daughters.
The auctioneer service still uses a large amount of their budget for advertisng, as many auction-goers look for the latest. But others will research a specific antique or piece from across the country, and come to the auction just for that.
Thad has auctioned in below-zero temperatures, and can only recall postponing one auction on a day when snow drifts covered the tractors. The beginning of Saturdays auction meant no electricity, but it didnt delay the start, Lucinda said, and they jumped right in.
The winning bids are documented on the computer instead of taken by hand. Bidders can pay for their items with credit cards, and the businesss website will also advertise their next auction.
But some things about the business never change.
We love what we do, Thad said.
The face of young American workers, their jobs and where they work are changing.
By 2018, employers will see as many as five generations working side by side. More than 60 million baby boomers will exit the workforce, and by 2025, only 40 million new workers will enter to replace them. Advancements in technology will help alleviate some labor shortages, but not in all sectors. Estimates suggest millennials could make up as much as 75 percent of the U.S. workforce by 2025.
Young workers today are more likely to be underemployed, earning less, living at home with their parents, delaying marriage and dependent on technology. They are less likely to be affiliated with a political party and connected to religion.
Here is what we also know. Todays young workers are highly engaged with their work. Additionally, the jobs of todays young workers are more mobile than they have been for any other generation. Good jobs can be as easy to locate as a good internet connection, whether you are in Albion or Atlanta, McCook or Miami, Lexington or London. As the mobility of jobs continues to increase, communities must ask how they can become more attractive to young workers.
The attraction, retention and development of young workers is vitally important for communities hoping to remain relevant in the rapidly expanding and diversified economy of the 21st century. It is with this focus in mind that community leaders across the state of Nebraska have developed strategies to target this talent pool through attraction and retention efforts, including a specific priority to ask young workers what the community can do to make itself more attractive as a place to live and work.
Yet no one community knows all the best practices in attraction, retention and development of young talent, and leaders and communities are constantly faced with limited resources. As such, a concerted statewide coalition of leaders working to focus the spotlight on young talent and vibrant communities together is the next step in making sure we are at the forefront for young workers.
Young Nebraskans Week will be a carefully curated series of speakers, discussion panels, workshops and networking opportunities hosted by communities across the state that celebrate the talent, insight and energy of young professionals working in Nebraska while also exploring the intersection between cultures and cities. Developed by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development and modeled after Lincolns Young Professionals Groups annual YP Week, Young Nebraskans Week aims to concentrate our states focus on growing, retaining and developing our youngest members of the workforce.
As we launch Young Nebraskans Week in 2018, we will be working throughout the state with local partners to create a dynamic environment focused on young workers. We will call upon industry, labor, chambers of commerce, economic development partners and many others to help make this initiative as strong as possible. We ask every Nebraskan to join our coalition in the fight to attract and retain young workers to our state.
Collaboration is the new competition.
Editors note: This article was submitted by Allison Hatch, Nebraska Department of Economic Development; Kayla Schnuelle, Rural Futures Institute and Connecting Young Nebraskans; Tom Beckius, Keith Peterson, Jaime Henning and Kayla Meyer, Lincolns Young Professionals Group; and Luke Hoffman, Greater Omaha Young Professionals.
Nebraska lawmakers created the position of inspector general for child welfare in 2012 to receive complaints, conduct investigations and provide the public with information about problems and successes in how the state handles cases involving vulnerable children.
The latest report from Julie Rogers, the inspector general, has triggered sniping between herself and the Nebraska court system.
Rogers bluntly criticizes how the State Office of Probation Administration handles juvenile cases. Probation responds that Rogers presents a one-sided picture that ignores the agencys positive actions.
Push the squabbling aside, though, and the central question remains: Exactly how well, or poorly, is Probation handling its juvenile cases, which were fully shifted to the agency in 2014 as part of a reform effort?
The contradictory claims by Rogers and Probation not only make for confusion. Their conflict also gets in the way of understanding a major public concern: the care of vulnerable children.
In her report, Rogers says she investigated the deaths of two youths supervised by or receiving services from Probation and made 13 recommendations to the court system.
Probation did not accept any of the recommendations, she writes in her new report, and has provided no information to date to suggest that the agency has taken meaningful steps to rectify the issues identified in the investigations.
The report says her office remains concerned that Probation lacks policies and protocols to successfully serve youth with mental health needs, developmental disabilities, and child welfare involvement.
In a letter, Probation officials responded that Rogers report grossly omitted ... many facts as to Probations collaborative efforts and that Probation has worked tirelessly to assess gaps and build upon successes.
Given the nature of the incidents investigated by Rogers, the letter said, Probation took the reports, findings and recommendations very seriously. The recommendations have been thoroughly reviewed and are included as considerations within Probations ongoing evaluation and implementation of evidence-based practices and policies.
Probations response also included a rash and irresponsible assertion: that no credibility should be given to the OIG (Office of Inspector General) report whatsoever.
Speaker Jim Scheer and the chairs of the Legislatures Executive Board and Judiciary Committee understandably expressed concern about the tone of that claim, viewing it as moving away from the constructive public statements by Rogers and Probation only last year when a compromise was worked out to allow Rogers access to case information.
Just as Rogers has an obligation to report in an objective and professional manner, giving proper credit to agencies when due, so the court system should avoid coming across as hysterical whenever its actions receive criticism or disagreement.
Right now, the public isnt being given adequate information.
Probation needs to make public a full description of its efforts so Nebraskans can make a well-informed judgment on how well the states vulnerable youths are being served.
The Omaha World-Herald
CROWN POINT When a family suffers the loss of a loved one, sometimes a familiar shoulder to lean on can help ease the emotional trauma.
"It's very common that people in these situations look to someone they know, especially if there's already a connection," said Larry Geisen, president of Crown Point-based Geisen Funeral Homes. Familiarity can bring calmness to a family during a difficult time.
In Crown Point, a fixture in the city for 150 years has been Geisen Funeral Homes. The company, which was started by Larry Geisen's great-great-grandfather, Peter, began as a furniture business.
Geisen said in his great-great grandfather's time, funeral homes didn't exist but when someone experienced a death in the family, it was common practice to contact a local furniture-maker to request a coffin to be built.
Geisen said funerals at that time were hosted in the home of the deceased or an immediate family member. Whomever built the coffin also took care of the arrangements for the deceased.
"It really lead to the creation of a new industry," Geisen said. The Geisens' original furniture store was just off the square in downtown Crown Point.
The Geisens constructed their family home on East Street in 1876, which stood for many decades. In 1933, the Geisen family built their first stand-alone funeral home, which was considered groundbreaking at the time, Larry Geisen said.
Growing up in the business gave Larry Geisen firsthand experiences watching how his family worked with other families and how they brought comfort to them. Over time, the Geisens worked with many generations of families, establishing lasting relations.
"We've been in the community for so many years that when the time comes when someone needs our services, they know that they can trust us," Geisen said.
Geisen chose to follow his father, Robert, into the business, much like his son, Anthony, decided to continue the tradition.
Geisen said his son worked with him the past two summers and respected the longevity and notoriety the business had in the Crown Point area.
"I'm very proud of my son and especially proud that he's looked at what other generations of our family have done with the business and that he's decided on his own that he wants to make his mark on the company," Geisen said.
As in other industries, it's important to innovate. Larry Geisen said his goal when he took over was to grow the business.
That led to acquiring other funeral homes around the Region. In 2004, Geisen added a location in Hebron; then in 2008, he purchased a facility from his cousin, Scott, in Merrillville.
In 2012, Geisen acquired Carlisle Funeral Home in Michigan City.
"I look at other funeral homes more like colleagues not competitors," Geisen said. He said in situations where independent funeral home operators had no heirs to continue the business, Geisen saw opportunities.
In 2007, Geisen and his wife, Kim, opened a new facility on Crown Point's east side on 113th Avenue just west of Interstate 65. The site also houses a banquet room, which can serve catered meals; a showroom that provides families an opportunity to look over casket options and other accessories; an on-site crematory; and pet loss center, which has its own crematory.
What will keep the business going another century will depend on the people in place, Geisen said. He encourages staff of 42 part-time and full-time workers to be active and involved in the community.
"It's important to be known in the community, because people need to know who you are," he said.
A 35-year-old Lowell man faces a felony charge of operating an off-road vehicle while intoxicated and causing a crash that landed another man in the hospital with a severe leg injury, according to police.
The crash occurred shortly after midnight Sunday in the area of 157th Place and Truman Street, according to the law enforcement branch of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Officers said Mark Runyon was driving a Can-Am Maverick side-by-side vehicle down the road at a high rate of speed when he lost control and it rolled, ejecting a 46-year-old man, who was a passenger.
The passenger was transported to Franciscan Health in Crown Point.
A Crown Point teen was seriously injured Friday afternoon in an off-road vehicle crash in the area of 121st Avenue and Orange Street in Winfield, according to a news release.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources stated in a news release the 15-year-old male and a friend were riding four-wheelers on private property at about 5 p.m. when they cut through a subdivision development under construction. The 15-year-old drove his Honda four-wheeler over the edge of a basement foundation, falling with the vehicle 8 feet onto the concrete floor.
The teen was wearing a helmet, which likely saved his life, according to the release from the IDNR Division of Law Enforcement.
The teen received a severe concussion, broken clavicle and several lacerations, according to the release. He was transported by Lakes of the Four Seasons Fire Department ambulance to Franciscan Health Crown Point where he was treated and later released.
Indiana conservation officers remind off-road vehicle riders to wear a helmet and proper safety gear while riding. A new law that went into effect in July requires all off-road vehicle operators and passengers under 18 to wear a Department of Transportation-approved helmet while operating or riding on both public and private property.
GRIFFITH A classic pop tune by Herman's Hermits that says, "second verse same as the first," also could refer to Griffith's second attempt to leave Calumet Township.
The Town Council last week said 2017 numbers, issued by the Department of Local Government Finance, show the township again is more than 12 times the average assistance budget of the state's 1,004 townships.
This is a repeat of 2016 when the budget averages, calculated by the DLGF, also indicated the township was over the limit.
When the township's assistance budget went over the limit last year, it triggered a law giving the right to petition for a referendum to allow Griffith residents to vote on leaving the township.
The Lake County Board of Elections had scheduled the referendum for December.
However, it was postponed after township Trustee Kimberly Robinson filed a civil suit in Lake County Superior Court.
The suit claimed the true number method, used by the DLGF to calculate the assistance budgets, was the wrong way to assess the numbers and further stated that weighted numbers should have been used as they were in 2015.
However, the Indiana attorney general's office subsequently stated the state Legislature intended for true numbers to be used when enacting the law.
Last month, Griffith withdrew its 2016 petition and cancelled the referendum.
But now, the DLGF's 2017 budget numbers have brought the petition effort back into the spotlight.
"Fortunately for us, they have again used the arithmetic means to calculate the statewide average," said Council President Rick Ryfa, R-3rd.
Ryfa said these new numbers will be applied to the 2018 township tax rate and that it is almost impossible for Calumet Township to get under the 12-times threshold.
"So at this time, I think we are in a position to move forward with another petition drive to get a referendum on the ballot," he said.
Robinson did not return a call from The Times on Friday, seeking comment.
Ryfa said he already has been contacted by many residents about setting up the new petition drive and said those interested should attend the council's next business meeting on Oct. 3.
"We will have everything we need from our attorneys in order to ... dot every 'I' and cross every 'T,' so we won't have to end up with litigation again," he said.
Ryfa, with a note of irony, referred to a 2020 property tax circuit breaker analysis suggesting the town could lose about $1 million in property taxes for several years.
"It's kind of a coincidence that we're paying the township $1 million out of our property taxes for services that we don't receive."
Robinson said last fall her office had provided tens of thousands of dollars in Griffith assistance.
She said at the time she also expected to provide a total of $3.1 million in housing, utilities, food and health care payments to about 17,000 recipients primarily living in 1,300 Gary households drawn from the entire township tax base in 2016.
Robinson, who took office in 2015, said she has inherited the responsibility of dealing with some of the states highest concentration of the neediest residents. About 39 percent of Garys residents are below the poverty line, according to U.S. census data.
If a new referendum is set, Griffith residents would vote whether to stay with the township or request a move to North, Ross or St. John townships.
Griffith also could decide to form its own township.
HIGHLAND The Redevelopment Commission/Town Council said it will try to be helpful to the new office park and hotel being planned for the corner of Main Street and Prairie Avenue.
Discussions have begun on the "preliminary stages of finances on Cardinal Campus with the financial consultant," Commissioner/Town Councilman Mark Herak, I-2nd, said last week.
Prior to the commission's meeting Monday, town officials met with Highland's new Redevelopment Director Kathy DeGuilio-Fox, Clerk-Treasurer Michael Griffin and the financial consultant to discuss tax increment financing.
In a TIF, the regular taxes generated by a development continue to benefit the entire town, while the additional taxes generated by the project help with certain improvements for the development and its general area.
The project is being developed by Dr. Claude Gendreau, a veterinary surgeon from Buffalo Grove, Illinois.
"I know he wants to break ground this year," Herak said. "But this is already September and we havent seen any plans or agreed on the incremental financing, so I dont see it happening this year."
Herak said the Highland Fire Department will burn down two of about five houses on Main Street for training purposes.
The row of houses was purchased by Gendreau, along with undeveloped acreage behind them.
The town also will help by putting in some infrastructure, such as sewers and water lines, for the project.
Gendreau has said he would like to break ground this year on the project, which eventually will include seven two-story office buildings and a three-story boutique hotel similar to a popular one he owns in Homewood, Illinois.
The 9-acre project was given final approval by the town earlier this year.
Gendreau has said the buildings, including the hotel, will go up in phases over the next several years.
CHESTERTON Hammond resident Mary LeVan held her walking stick in one hand and drank from her water bottle with the other while waiting to set off on a 1.5-mile hike Sunday afternoon that would take her over the three highest sand dunes at the Indiana Dunes State Park.
The 88-year-old, who will be 89 in just more than a week, was not deterred by the unseasonable heat.
"Is it hot?" she asked.
LeVan said she had already completed the 3 Dune Challenge three times for herself. This time, she and others set off on foot as part of the Hike for Hope in support of Mental Health America of Lake County.
The inaugural event, which included a daylong gathering at a nearby shelter at the lakefront park, was organized by Oak Lawn, Illinois, resident Amanda McCarthy to raise awareness and funds for the services provided by Mental Health America.
The issue is personal for McCarthy, who is bipolar and has children facing mental health challenges. After surviving a suicide attempt last year, she decided to set up the event as a way of celebrating the second chance she was given.
"It's just a way to give back," she said.
Mental Health America focuses its services on families with children up to the age of 5 because 90 percent of the brain is developed within that impressionable period, said President and CEO Renae Vania-Tomczak.
"They come in and guide these families to a better place," McCarthy said.
McCarthy also founded the Urban Nerd Herd group earlier this year, which describes itself as a "local Midwest hiking group dedicated to the urban hiker."
She said she did not expect to be facing temperatures hovering around 90 degrees when she planned the outing for late September. She nonetheless was grateful for the sunshine and turnout, which included more than 60 registered hikers.
Munster resident Pradnya Deshmukh said she was taking part in the event because she believed in the cause, and because she and friends have faced their own mental health challenges.
"The cause is dear to me and this challenge is a way of overcoming those issues," she said.
Barbara Cunningham, also of Munster, said her daughter had committed suicide 24 years ago.
"Anything I can do for mental health and make people aware, I am there," she said.
For the last decade or so, the United States has been undergoing intense political debate and turmoil unlike anything Ive seen since the 1960s. Protests and counter protests are being mounted at a fever pitch.
In Charlottesville, Virginia, last month we saw the ugliness of two cultures clashing. The news from that event continues to reverberate, but what lasting change will come from it?
Its a familiar story.
Whether its health-care reform, immigration reform, religious freedom, sexual orientation or any of a number of issues, politicians often dont vote the way the majority of Americans want.
After the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting in 2012, there were calls for expanded background checks for gun purchasers, including to screen for mental illness. Congress balked.
Now the Indiana General Assembly is seriously considering eliminating concealed carry permits. State police who conduct the background checks for those permits say they reject more than 4,000 applications annually. Eliminating those permits would, in effect, allow mentally ill people and those with criminal backgrounds to carry concealed weapons more easily, according to those who don't want the permits eliminated.
Attempts to influence officeholders votes often include protesters carrying placards on public squares and other kinds of protests, but who do the politicians really listen to?
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, a former GOP congressman, had the answer during his Sinai Forum lecture Sept. 10 at the Purdue University Northwest campus in Westville.
Congressmen dont care one whit what people say in their letters to congressmen. They dont care what protesters outside their offices say. Congressmen listen to just one special interest group.
Voters.
Historically, older Americans are more likely to vote than younger Americans. Its why issues affecting senior citizens hold more weight than issues affecting young adults.
If politically astute protesters really want to change the world, they would do it not just with placards but also with mobilizing the vote.
When Scarborough was asked what the future might hold for millennials concerned about their perspectives not being heard, his advice was simple:
Your friends, people your age, millennials, you have to get engaged like never before.
Im not being melodramatic here, Scarborough said. Washington is stealing all your money. Were $20 trillion in debt. Were going to be $30 trillion in debt before Donald Trump leaves office, maybe $35 trillion in debt. Its going to keep going up.
The reason that happens is that young voters dont get out and vote in as high a number, Scarborough said.
I remember when I was running for office, I heard some college students say, Why dont you advertise on the radio stations that I listen to? I said, You dont vote.
Youve got to revive this country. Youve got to rebuild this country. Its going to take young people getting engaged, going to vote, to do that.
In Indiana, Secretary of State Connie Lawson reported voter turnout last year was 58 percent about 4 percent lower than in 2008, when Barack Obama won the presidency.
Im all in favor of exercising one's First Amendment rights. Get out there and speak your mind. Tell people, especially politicians, what you want them to do to improve lives in your community, in your state, in your nation.
But if they dont vote, protesters are wasting their breath.
Its been almost two weeks since Equifax reported the hack of 143 million consumer records. Already, we are getting a picture of how the public reacts to a breach of such proportions.
Equifax, one of the three major credit reporting agencies, stores a remarkable amount of information on individuals in a single place. A hack of a bank, retailer or credit card company, while serious, might involve only account numbers and names.
As a literal storehouse of consumer credit data, Equifax records grouped names and addresses with associated dates of birth, Social Security numbers, bank accounts, credit accounts, loans and other personal financial information and histories. All that together makes the information a gold mine to identity thieves.
As folks begin to comprehend this, were learning the first lesson: consumers will place security over convenience.
Equifax along with Experian and TransUnion, the two other credit reporting agencies are seeing their websites inundated with requests for credit freezes. Speaking from personal experience, this is a cumbersome process. You are required to fill out large fields of information and create passwords and PINs for each adult member of your household. Depending on the state where you live, Experian and TransUnion charge as much $10 for each freeze.
Equifax currently is abashed enough to waive this.
With a freeze in place, consumers cannot take advantage of any instant credit offers because merchants can no longer get a credit report on the fly. This adds time and effort when it comes time to lease a car, rent an apartment, purchase a new sofa or apply for store credit because a consumer must first contact the credit agency to lift the freeze. Yet the Equifax debacle is showing us that many think the added hassle is worth the peace of mind.
This should be worrisome for the e-commerce barons who are building their business models on collecting and exchanging consumer information in return for speed and easy access to services and apps. If consumers are uncomfortable with how their personal data are curated, they might just unplug Alexa and Google Home and banish them to the attic.
A second lesson is that barriers to entry in credit reporting must come down. Hacks like these bring immediate calls for more regulation. Their scope can make it politically difficult for cooler heads to assess the cost-benefit ratios before laws are passed in the rush to do something.
As the Competitive Enterprise Institutes Jim Harper points out, the credit rating cartel, of which Equifax is a part, is a result of the 1970 Fair Credit Reporting Act. As products of regulation, Equifax and its fellow credit agencies have to meet only the requirements of the law, not the industry best practices, which have more than eclipsed the FCRAs 45-year-old standards.
Over the decades, this has made the agencies complacent. While the hack may have been due to a vulnerability in software, a patch for that fault had been available for months. Equifax failed to keep up.
Before enacting new laws that will only bake in more complacency, now is the time to consider whether deregulation would result in an increase in consumer options for accurate and secure credit reporting.
A third lesson is that the government should stop encouraging the assignment of Social Security numbers at birth. This simply enables lazy institutions to use an official government-issued identifier as a catch-all tag on everything from medical records to school lunch programs. There is no upside for the consumer. Social Security numbers do not serve their intended purpose until a minor takes his or her first job, usually at age 15 or 16, but often later.
The onslaught of hurricanes this fall has kept Equifax hack off the front page. But the hack is its own gathering storm.
Theres going to be bipartisan support for a response. Lets be sure cooler heads prevail with policies that truly work to curtail future breaches, not facilitate more.
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Gov. Cuomo teamed up with some high-profile celebrities Sunday to bring attention to the devastation in Puerto Rico.
Jennifer Lopez and Mets pitcher Seth Lugo joined Cuomo at the Javits Center in Manhattan to announce several new partnerships designed to bring relief to the island nation.
"My cousin and I and our family still haven't been able to hear from all our family over there, and we are concerned for them and for everyone on the island," said Lopez, who is from the Bronx.
Cuomo renewed his pressure on the federal government, saying Washington needs to put politics aside and help the 3.5 million people left without power in the U.S. territory.
"This is going to be a long, hard road for Puerto Rico, and this is a situation that's going to require billions of dollars in assistance, and real capacity provided to the island, and that's going to have to be done by the federal government," Cuomo said at the news conference.
The governor announced several private partnerships, including one with JetBlue, which is donating $1 million in services to bring goods to the island. The teachers' union will also collect and distribute school supplies for students.
The Mets announced they would collect donations at upcoming games, and the Yankees said they are also pitching in to help.
The governor flew to Puerto Rico on Friday to see first-hand the damage that Hurricane Maria caused.
Jesse Chambless runs two miles a day on his treadmill. But he got up early Saturday morning to run his first 5K, a 3.1-mile run.
"I'm out here this morning to spend time with my son and support his school," said Chambless, whose son is a student at Drake Middle School. "I've never run a 5K before, so this is a new experience for both of us."
Chambless was one of nearly 500 runners who participated in the inaugural Book it for Books 5K and fun run benefiting Drake Middle School on Saturday morning. The event was held at Town Creek Park in Auburn and raised enough money to buy about 2,000 books for the school.
Last year, our curriculum implemented book clubs for the first time, said Cate Sagastegui, in her fifth year teaching language arts at Drake Middle. The research has kind of changed from whole group novels to, at this age, offering a lot of choices for students. You need as many books as possible.
I felt like I had a great selection of books, but kids always want new books. They want books that were published this year, she continued. I wanted a way to figure out how to acquire those books. So I tried to think big picture.
Starting with an idea
So Sagastegui approached principal Sarah Armstrong and asked her opinion on hosting a 5K and using the registration fees to purchase books.
I thought it was a fantastic idea, and went through all of our approval channels with Central Office, said Armstrong, in her 16th year leading the sixth-grade-only school. We got approval this summer, and really took off with planning at that point.
School faculty met with the city of Auburn, who guided the process of applying to hold an event at Town Creek Park, and Aorta, a local running group who helped facilitate the run.
They encouraged us to dream for 100 participants, Armstrong said. It is much bigger than we anticipated, but we have a large group of people who are supportive. It is very much a whole school effort to make Saturday happen. Im very proud of our staff for that, and the way everybody has taken ownership of this dream. They ended up with 470 runners who pre-registered for the event, and more than 20 who signed up onsite the morning of.
Many of Saturdays participants were Auburn City Schools faculty and staff and their families, and Drake Middle School students and their families.
Usually, when a kid signs up, youll see the whole family right behind them, Sagastegui said. We have such a large student body that, thankfully, we have gotten the support of a lot of families. So instead of just one person participating, its a group of four or five.
Community support
But the roles were sometimes reversed, as the children of Drake Middle faculty participated in the run, even if they themselves are not Drake students.
Hannah Halverson, a fifth-grade student at Yarbrough Elementary, participated in the fun run because her father is a language arts teacher at Drake.
"I'm running to raise money to buy books," she said. "I've run before, but never racing people."
Halverson's friend Toni-Christian Ford attends Drake Middle School. Ford's mother is an English teacher at Drake, so hers is a class that will especially benefit from Saturday's race.
"We need more books, trust me," said Ford, who is a competitive cheerleader and ran for the first time on Saturday.
Sherry Bernie, an art teacher at Drake, and her husband, Clark, participated in Saturday's 5K.
"We left the lake at 5:15 this morning to get here," Bernie said. "It's definitely worth it, especially when your friends are going to have books. That's the whole mentality of everyone at Drake, to help when they can."
Leading up to the event, Sagastegui said, students were excited about the 5K and had a school-wide competition to see which class could have the highest number of participants sign up for the run.
All 654 students at Drake Middle will participate in the book clubs, so the 5K and fun run benefit everyone at the school.
The way the book clubs work is, you advertise in your class. You take eight or nine books; some teachers show book trailers, some just do little teasers about each book, Sagastegui explained. The kids rank them according to how interested they are in them, and then they get their books. Hopefully, everyone gets their first or second choice. They meet with their little book clubs, which are really similar to adult book clubs. They have meeting dates and things that they talk about, and sometimes, projects at the end of it.
Aside from the money raised by individuals registering for the run, 44 local businesses purchased sponsorships for the event.
Its been a good exercise for us in reaching out to community resources, Armstrong said. We had some student volunteers from Auburn University come to help us as well. It really has been a way for us to see what is even out there in the community, and how willing they are to help us.
The principal described the experience as a "whirlwind."
"We had 15 teachers out here setting up at 5:30 on a Saturday," she said. "That kind of work ethic is overwhelming. I could not be more proud."
A bystander caught in a shootout and a woman driving a car were among five people who were shot at four locations Saturday in Omaha, police said.
Two people were shot at 37th Street and Meredith Avenue about 8:45 p.m., authorities said. They were taken to a hospital in critical condition.
On Sunday morning, police identified the victims as Dylonnica Carter, 20, and Quintera Hughes, also 20.
Witnesses told police that a person in a white Nissan sedan fired the shots.
Carter was in fair condition Sunday night. The hospital could not provide information on Hughes.
Also shot Saturday was Jennifer Morales-Tiscareno, 19, who was struck at the base of her neck as she drove about 1 a.m. on W Street between 34th Street and 33rd Avenue, police said. The window broke and a 15-year-old girl, Stephanie Morales, also in the car, was scratched on her knee from glass fragments.
Morales-Tiscarenos injury was not life-threatening, police said. She was taken in serious condition to the Nebraska Medical Center.
The woman and girl are sisters and may have been involved in a driving lesson when Morales-Tiscareno was shot, Lt. Steve Cerveny said.
Police had not announced an arrest. They said witnesses told officers that they saw three male assailants run from the area.
About two hours later, Jason Brown, 36, was shot at 30th Street and Martin Avenue, police said.
Brown told police that he was at a BP gas station when he saw a person in a Dodge Caravan yelling at people who were at a Sinclair gas station across the street. Brown said he was shot when the person in the Caravan and the people in the Sinclair parking lot began shooting at each other.
He arrived about 3:15 a.m. in a private vehicle at Immanuel Medical Center. His injury was not life-threatening, police said. They had not announced an arrest late Saturday.
A 15-year-old girl died Saturday after she was shot at 36th and Lake Streets; police were looking for a suspect.
The College of St. Mary in Omaha last week reported enrollment of 1,140 students, its highest since 1994.
The college has lowered its tuition sticker price by $10,000, saying that price doesnt give a clear view of actual tuition after scholarships and government aid.
CSM officials also have said they were dropping the actual cost of tuition, too, for most undergrads.
We did not reduce tuition with an expectation that it would increase enrollment, but it has been gratifying to see the number of students that have stepped forth to pursue their dreams in our community as a result, said Sister Maryanne Stevens, president of the college.
Enrollment last year at the college totaled 1,043.
Free college fair set for Oct. 21 in Omaha
Students and parents may engage in the college search process from 1 to 4 p.m. on Oct. 21 at the CenturyLink Center.
The Omaha National College Fair is free and open to the public. Attendees will be able to meet with admission representatives from public and private colleges and two- and four-year schools.
The event is sponsored by the National Association for College Admission Counseling and hosted by the Great Plains Association for College Admission Counseling.
Student registration and other information is available at www.nacacfairs.org. For information call Sarah Smith at 703-299-6853 or email her at ssmith@nacacnet.org.
UNO seeks writing contest entries in Spanish
Nebraska students in grades five through 12 may submit their work to the eighth annual University of Nebraska at Omaha Creative Writing Contest in Spanish.
Students in grades five through eight are asked to write a fiction story inspired by a collection of artworks on display at the Joslyn Art Museum. A scavenger hunt and workshop will be held at the museum from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday.
Students in grades nine through 12 will write a personal non-fiction story involving social justice and social responsibility.
The deadline for entries is Oct. 18. Submissions should be between 250 and 600 words.
For information and registration, go to the UNO OLLAS website (OLLAS stands for Office of Latino/Latin American Studies), then click on the Community Engagement tab and scroll to the section on the writing contest.
Orphan Grain Train: Nine Makovicka Physical Therapy locations recently collected and assembled 55 disaster kits for the Orphan Grain Train of Norfolk, Nebraska, a nonprofit Christian volunteer network. Each kit contains a bath towel, washcloth, bar of soap, toothbrush, bandages and a comb.
Feeding America: Jack Links Beef Jerky plant in Underwood, Iowa, loaded three semitrailer trucks with more than 136,900 bags of beef jerky on Sept. 18 to deliver to Florida residents affected by Hurricane Irma.
Superhero Heart Run: The fifth annual Superhero Heart Run is today at Werner Park, 12356 Ballpark Way in Papillion. The event is from noon to 4 p.m. Proceeds go to support education, research and awareness of congenital heart defects. Cost is $25 for adults, $10 for children ages 2-12 and free for those with congenital heart defects.
Concert fundraiser: St. Thomas Lutheran Church, 17007 Q St., will host a grand piano concert fundraiser today. Freewill donations will go to Youth Emergency Services, 2679 Farnam St., and Lutheran Family Services, 124 S. 24th St. The 4 p.m. concert will feature a vocalist and three pianists.
Safe Haven: Gretna United Methodist Church will host a donation event for Heartland Family Services and its Safe Haven domestic shelter on Wednesday. More than 100 high school youth from area churches will go door to door in the community from 6:45 to 8 p.m., collecting donations for the domestic violence program. Needed items include bathroom tissue, paper towels, sandwich bags, body wash, loofahs, hairspray, batteries, journals, planners, hair ties and headbands. Residents also may leave donations marked for Safe Haven on their porches that day or drop them off at Gretna United Methodist Church, 11457 S. 204th St., through Oct. 4.
Project Pinkd: Omaha Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 385 has partnered with Project Pinkd, a local nonprofit that supports people diagnosed with breast cancer, on the annual Omaha Pinkd Out program now through Oct. 1. Purchase a pink light bulb or flood light for your homes exterior at the Union Hall, 6005 Grover St. Lights are $5 each. Campaign T-shirts are available for $15. Proceeds will go to local support programs for breast cancer survivors. People can take photos alongside the lit bulbs and share them on social media with the hashtag #OmahaPinkdOut. For every photo shared using the hashtag in October, the Fire Union will donate $1 to Project Pinkd. Businesses that are interested in lighting up pink for the month of October can contact Melissa Rowlet at melissarowlet@projectpinkd.org.
Shoe drive: All six Mattress Firm stores in Omaha are hosting a shoe drive to benefit local foster youth and families through Oct. 31. New shoes in any size as well as monetary contributions will be accepted during normal business hours. All proceeds will be donated to CASA for Douglas County. These shoes will help the approximately 4,800 children in foster care in Nebraska.
Know about something we should include in our weekly listing? Email it to goodnews@owh.com.
The writer, of Lincoln, represents Nebraskas 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
When I was in third grade, I had a friend named Phillip Brown. My birthday party was nearing, and it was common at the time to invite all the boys in the class to a party. And I did invite everyone, including Phillip, who was a particularly close friend.
The party was at a roller skating rink. As I was opening presents, my father came up to me and whispered in my ear, Jeffrey, is Phillip a black boy? I said, Yes. Then I didnt think about it anymore.
On the following Monday at school, I saw Phillip. I was somewhat hurt because he did not show up at my birthday party. I asked him, Phillip, why didnt you come? He said, I did. They wouldnt let me in.
I was 8 years old. The year was 1968. It turns out my father had to go outside and awkwardly explain to Phillips father that this establishment was apparently a disturbing remnant of the old ways. Black children were not allowed in.
After business concludes each day in Congress, there is a period when representatives from each side of the political aisle take time to speak, with Democrats and Republicans taking turns.
One evening, Rep. Al Green, an African-American Democrat from Houston, was speaking about Black History Month. Green spoke extensively of his difficult times as a young lawyer facing a segregated courthouse and about important progress on civil rights that had been made in the country, adding there was still a need for more understanding.
As I was preparing my thoughts for my own address next listening closely as Green was wrapping up his speech I kept thinking about Phillip. The thought occurred to me to ask if the congressman would yield a courteous way of seeking time to interject something. In this circumstance, it would be unusual, but I couldnt let the thought go. I decided, Yes, this is important, and asked, Will the gentleman yield? A bit startled, Green said, I would be happy to yield to the gentleman.
I thanked him for his words and told the story of Phillip Brown but with one new detail: the reaction of my own children when I told them of this event from my childhood. You could see the anguish on their faces. My children were aghast that such a hurtful thing could happen. They said, Daddy, you have to find Phillip.
In the meanwhile, Texas Rep. Ted Poe had come onto the floor of the House to get ready for his speech. And he began to listen. Poe then asked, Will the gentleman yield? And he began to talk about similar memories of the segregation at the courthouse and his sentiments about the progress made. He said to me, Jeff, youve got to find Phillip.
I had occasion recently to go back to the little school I attended (an all-white school in my time, except, as I recall, for the Brown family). I met the principal, who is an African-American woman. It is now a school for children with special talents in which most of the students are African-American. She was kind enough to take me on a little tour.
Some things had been added, like air conditioning, but much was the same. I walked into one of my old classrooms. Memories flooded over me. It even smelled the same! I asked the principal, Will you look in the records? Will you help me find Phillip Brown?
After I wrote this story, my mother sent me an additional piece of information that I never knew about. After the birthday party, Phillips mother called my mother, in what my mother describes as the most embarrassing moment of her life. Phillip had come to the birthday party dressed in a suit and tie, with a book as a gift. It was John F. Kennedys Profiles in Courage.
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Papua New Guinea continues to make its presence felt in the international arena despite tough economic times.This week Prime Minister Peter ONeill has travelled to the United Nations in New York to meet with world leaders as they discuss global national security challenges among others. Mr ONeill will have a chance to meet US President Donald Trump, as the still-new president hopes to use his first appearance before the UN General Assembly to rally other countries against North Koreas nuclear threats.Mr ONeill will also meet the UN President of the General Assembly Miroslav Lajcak and rub shoulders with French President Emmanuel Macron, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. He will also meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-In as they meet to discuss issues of peace and advancing global understanding of the critical role of multilateralism in our modern world and in serving the needs of all people.Mr ONeill will have a chance to meet US President Donald Trump who will use his first appearance before the UN General Assembly to rally other countries against North Koreas nuclear threats.This years 72nd General Assembly of United Nations started yesterday morning where Mr ONeill will present PNGs country statement.In the lead-up to the meeting, he will speak at an investment conference to promote investment opportunities in Papua New Guineas resources sector. He was also due to meet with senior executives of ExxonMobil in Dallas, Texas. Post Courier/ONE PNG
By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 24 (PTI) The Supreme Court has said that a Mumbai-based real estate firm, entangled in a property dispute with thespian Dilip Kumar, could raise the issue of alleged breach of contract by the actor before the apex court- appointed arbitrator.
The top court, which had on August 30 asked the actor to deposit Rs 20 crore with its registry as part payment to the builder with whom the agreement to develop his prime Pali Hill property ran into rough weather a decade ago, was informed that Kumar had deposited the money as directed by the court.
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The actor had entered into an agreement with Prajita Developers Pvt Ltd for developing his property, measuring 2412 square yards, and the dispute arose later as no construction was raised and Kumar wanted back the plot whose possession was with the firm.
The top court, in its August 30 order, had appointed former apex court judge Justice P Venkatarama Reddy as the arbitrator to decide whether Prajita was entitled for more as damages apart from Rs 20 crore.
A bench comprising Justices J Chelameswar and S Abdul Nazeer was informed that as per the Mumbai Polices report, possession of the property had been handed over to the actor.
"Therefore, the first respondent (Prajita) is permitted to withdraw the said amount of Rs 20 crore deposited in the registry of this court," the bench noted in its order.
The bench was dealing with an application seeking certain clarifications including that the developer was entitled to demonstrate before the court-appointed arbitrator that there was breach of the agreement between the parties allegedly on part of Kumar.
"We accordingly clarify that it would be open to Prajita Developers to plead and establish before the arbitrator that there is a breach of contract on the part of the appellant (Kumar) entitling Prajita Developers for a decree of specific performance only for the limited purpose of examining the further questions whether Prajita Developers is entitled to damages and, if entitled, what would be the quantum of damages," the court said.
"We also make it clear that all the parties to the agreement are entitled to raise such claims and defences, as the case may be, with regard to the respective claims of damages (if any)," the bench said.
In March 2016, the apex court had granted relief to Kumar by rejecting a plea to restrain him from creating third party rights over the Pali Hill property till the arbitration of the dispute with a private developer.
According to the original agreement, the owner as well as the developers had to share 50 per cent each of the residential flats to be built on the land.
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Prajita developers had thus obtained the leasehold rights in the property together with the bungalow standing thereon by virtue of lease of September 25, 1953. But the developers had failed to raise any construction.
The Bombay High Court had last year rejected the plea of the realty firm. PTI ABA MNL SJK RKS ARC DV
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Gresham police arrested a Portland man Saturday in connection with the death of his girlfriend's 13-month-old son.
Shalondre Adams, 21, will be charged with murder, said Officer Ben Costigan, a spokesman for the Gresham Police Department.
The toddler died Thursday morning.
Shalondre Adams, 21
Child abuse detectives began investigating his death after emergency responders were called to help the unresponsive toddler at an address near Southeast 169th Avenue and Stark Street.
An autopsy performed Friday by the Oregon State Medical Examiner's office found the toddler suffered a traumatic brain injury. The boy's death was ruled a homicide, Costigan said.
Costigan said police are not releasing the toddler's name because the investigation is ongoing. Adams was not the boy's father, Costigan said.
Photos posted on social media show a growing makeshift memorial for the toddler, with a small pair of Air Jordan sneakers nestled among candles and flowers.
In 2013, an Oregonian/OregonLive reporter spoke with a 17-year-old named Shalondre Adams, who appears to be the same man arrested Saturday. He witnessed a confrontation between police and his teenage cousins that ended with one cousin being hit by a Taser.
Adams is scheduled to be arraigned on a murder allegation at 2:30 p.m. on Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
This story has been updated.
-- Molly Young
BY EUGENE "AUSTIN" GREENE
The Oregonian front-page story over Labor Day weekend ("No Shows Still Not Showing") focused on issues at the Warm Springs K-8 Academy with missed school days adding up to "chronic absenteeism." In Oregon, chronic absence is about 18 days during a school year.
The story came a year into the Tribal Attendance Pilot Project, the tribe-state effort to corral decades of high absenteeism among Oregon tribal youth in public schools on and near reservations. The story overall was balanced, contradicting the downbeat headline by stating that most of the schools participating in the pilot project have reduced chronic absenteeism among tribal youth after less than a year of work.
Our concerns as Warm Springs leaders were how the role of the very bad weather last winter was downplayed and how the story passed judgment on the work of this promising new project as if 150 years of abuse and neglect of our youth in government-funded schools can be fixed in no time.
First, regarding the weather, the most severe snow storm on our reservation in recent memory hit in December. We had four feet of snow and -- no surprise -- it stopped everybody and everything. Who in Portland has forgotten what less than a foot of snow did to schools there at the same time? We lost nine school days for everybody because of the snow and lost many more school days for the kids in outlying areas of our 650,000-acre reservation who could not budge because of the deep snow in their extremely long driveways.
Mother Nature gave us a bum year to start the pilot project and there's no way to view it as typical. Before the storms, we believe the school was on track to lower its absentee rate.
Second, as some of our people quoted in the story discussed, we have a difficult -- even brutal -- history in the schools America designed for us. The mistreatment of our children started in the 19th Century, with beatings for speaking our own language or for not following orders given in a language foreign to our land. It continued into the 20th century with kidnappings to force us into schools and more beatings to knock our heritage out of us and make us "good" Americans.
This cruelty was aided by teachers turning a blind eye to bullying and shaming by white students, especially in Madras. When they called our precious girls, "squaw," a vile term used to shame them, they were never punished. This meanness continued into this century. And it made matters worse to have our people erased from Oregon history, as if our century-long fight to save the salmon -- for just one example -- meant nothing to our beautiful home. No wonder it is hard to convince school-traumatized parents that all is now okay for our kids in public schools.
Our people have worked hard to overcome the cruelties visited upon us in the name of education. We are proud of our new K-8 school in Warm Springs, for which our tribe paid half the cost -- unlike other public schools. Just last month, we had a NASA program for our students on documenting the solar eclipse. Students helped prepare the equipment for the weather balloon launched that morning. We hosted visitors from around the world at the campus for this amazing astronomical event.
We are proud of our partnership with the state to bring students back into the classroom. We are grateful to Oregon legislators for chipping in to fund this critical project and to fund development of Oregon Tribes curriculum in all public schools. We are making headway on attendance, but we cannot overcome a century and a half of dishonor in a year or two.
-- Eugene "Austin" Greene, Jr., is chairman of Warm Springs Tribal Council.
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Submit your 500-word essay on a highly topical issue or a theme of particular relevance to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and the Portland area to commentary@oregonlive.com. Please include your email and phone number for verification.
BY KATE GONSALVES
As leaders in powerful positions who are experts in their field, Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw and Portland Public Schools Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero, you have arrived at an important time.
As a white mother, I worry deeply about my biracial boys and other black and brown children growing up in Portland. And recent data illustrates my fears are not unfounded.
Portland, Oregon is a wonderful place to live and raise a family. Some of the things I appreciate most about the region are the state's natural beauty, the food and a culture of people who embody the state motto "She flies with her own wings." However, what often goes unspoken is that for too long, Oregon has buried much needed conversations about racial equity and bias under its veneer of progressivism.
Oregon can be a very unwelcoming place to people of color. The Southern Poverty Law Center recently listed Oregon as having more reported hate incidents than any other state in the nation. As a white child, I counted on the police and teachers as support systems. Today, if my biracial kids need help, I don't have the same confidence that my children can turn to a police officer or teacher for assistance without being perceived as suspects.
For too long, communities of color in Oregon have been over-policed and under-protected. The often unconscious practice of associating black or brown skin with criminality begins early. According to a recent report by the Sentencing Project, black boys are more than four times as likely to be suspended from area schools than their white peers for the same infractions. Similarly, racial bias is baked into every sector of the criminal justice system as illustrated by the Multnomah County Racial and Ethnic Disparities Report. It is a direct result of this deeply entrenched racism that black, Latino, and Native American children remain overrepresented in Oregon's juvenile facilities.
In August, the images of white Southerners holding torches in Charlottesville captured the public eye as the nation's face of racism. Yet, you may be surprised to learn that Oregon has the seventh highest rate of incarceration for African Americans in the nation. Virginia ranks below Oregon on the list at 29th.
The data is grim but it's not out of line with Oregon's colonial history. These historical roots of racial inequality remain woven into the fabric of our schools, government, juries and law enforcement. Still it's easier for many Oregonians to point fingers afar rather than take a hard look within.
If we hope to build a better future for the increasingly diverse children of Oregon, we must reconcile these lived realities with our progressive values. As new leaders to our region I hope you don't shy away from these conversations and instead make racial equity and restorative justice an ongoing priority with measurable results. Many community members including myself are willing to do everything we can to be part of the solution - our children's futures are tied to your success.
Kate Gonsalves is political director at the Oregon Justice Resource Center. She lives with her family in Southeast Portland.
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Submit your 500-word essay on a highly topical issue or a theme of particular relevance to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and the Portland area to commentary@oregonlive.com. Please include your email and phone number for verification.
BY DAVID ROGERS
The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon just launched a major, multi-year campaign to reform our state's criminal justice system. We want to improve the system so it is more fair, just and effective. But instead of focusing on police departments, sheriffs' deputies or judges, we're focusing on 36 individuals who most Oregon voters know little about: district attorneys.
District attorneys are the most powerful actors in the criminal justice system. Among their many powers, district attorneys decide who gets charged with a crime or who goes free. They decide when youth are charged as adults, and who gets treatment or goes to jail. It's district attorneys who decide whether to charge a police officer for misconduct and when to pursue the death penalty.
We've found that Oregonians are largely unfamiliar with the role district attorneys play, and most of us don't know they're elected. Leading up to the launch of our campaign, we knocked on more than 15,000 doors in Marion and Washington counties. We talked to thousands of Oregonians about what they want from the justice system and what they know about district attorneys. More than two-thirds of the people we talked to thought district attorneys are appointed, not elected.
Public education is one of the core goals of our They Report to You Campaign. And the name of our campaign underscores that in a democracy, elected leaders should be more accountable to voters.
It's understandable that district attorneys have been flying under our radar. In the past decade, eight out of every 10 district attorney elections were uncontested. And when voters don't have a real choice, many people choose not to vote or pay attention.
Tremendous power, a high level of job security and a low level of accountability to the public is a very bad recipe for justice. District attorneys have collectively been the largest roadblock to modernizing and reforming our justice system. For example, the legislature passed a range of very important criminal justice reforms this year. The laws are designed to help end law enforcement profiling, reduce unreasonably harsh penalties for simple drug possession, avoid opening a new women's prison and create more transparency in the grand jury system. Those victories have one thing in common: The most vocal opposition was from district attorneys.
Some district attorneys, such as Clackamas County's John Foote, responded to our campaign with extreme defensiveness, unleashing a range of outlandish accusations. In a press release, he said that the ACLU of Oregon's concerns about the state's over-reliance on incarcerating people with mental illness and addiction "are patently false." He said the same about our justice system's disparity with incarcerations by race. With such a misrepresentation of reality, there is no need to waste time referencing the well-documented evidence to the contrary. We don't need defensiveness from our elected leaders, we need leadership. Denying we have problems is a clear indication that DA Foote is actually part of the problem.
District attorneys have the power to make positive change and they are not always a unified group. Some are better than others, and some have already taken real leadership on key issues. Deschutes County DA John Hummel supported grand jury transparency reform, and Multnomah County DA Rod Underhill is developing a pre-booking diversion program that recognizes that the best interventions can be to help people rebuild their lives rather than a singular focus on prosecution.
Oregon needs more forward thinking district attorneys.
Rather than fiercely defending outdated policies, we need to demand evidence-based, research driven policies from our elected district attorneys. That's where our new campaign comes in. It's a simple idea: Let's make it easier for Oregonians to find out who their district attorney is, what they stand for and increase voter engagement with these important elected positions. With more public engagement, we'll ensure Oregon can create a fair and effective justice system for our future.
David Rogers is the executive director of the ACLU of Oregon.
Share your opinion
Submit your 500-word essay on a highly topical issue or a theme of particular relevance to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and the Portland area to commentary@oregonlive.com. Please include your email and phone number for verification.
Share your opinion
Submit your 500-word essay on a highly topical issue or a theme of particular relevance to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and the Portland area to commentary@oregonlive.com. Please include your email and phone number for verification.
By Adila Matra: Travelling is undoubtedly one of the biggest joys of life. Hand in hand with travel, bringing more meaning to every journey is its gastronomic partner. Anywhere you go, the trip is rendered useless without the local food and the novelty that its flavours offer.
Keeping this in mind, Airbnb Asia Pacific under its 'Kitchens of Asia' initiative has partnered with renowned chefs in four Asia-Pacific markets - Chef Manish Mehrotra of Indian Accent (India), Chef Tony Yoo (South Korea), Chef Ian Kittichai (Thailand), and Chef Koh Kentetsu (Japan) - to encourage travellers to try and prepare authentic Asian dishes and delicacies that capture the flavours of India, Japan, South Korea and Thailand on their next vacation on Airbnb.
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The live cookout session at Mehrotra's fabled Indian Accent restaurant revealed a few dishes by the chef and other by Airbnb hosts, that can be prepared in under 30 minutes.
"The concept is to travel and enjoy the city like a local. I also try to do that when you are staying in a place for three to four months," says Mehrotra who started with a warm potato and prawns salad, topped with purple potatoes that can be made in 15 minutes. "It is something that can be quickly made. It shouldn't be difficult for outsiders to get those ingredients. For instance, I wouldn't want anyone to go specifically to an Indian market while in London to get these things. The ingredients for this salad are available everywhere. It is Indian with an international touch," he says.
Airbnb hosts from different parts of the country also laid out a few recipes. Plavaneeta Borah from Assam whipped up Masor Tenga Aru Bhaat (tangy Assamese fish curry with steamed rice) that can be whipped up in 30 minutes while Manjula Sharma cooked a simple Bread Tikki Chaat with a preparation time of 10 minutes. Mehrotra says his ultimate goal is to make sure Indian food becomes popular. "Not chicken tikka Masala, real Indian food. We don't just eat curries. The perception should change. More respect for Indian food is what I aim for with every step I take," he adds. Here is a recipe from Manish Mehrotra that can come in handy when you travel.
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Monday 25 September 2017 9:45am
University of Otago researchers are warning of the potential pitfalls in government departments using computer-based risk prediction models, as has been recently revealed through a controversial new tool used by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) to profile and target clients.
The ACC uses a computer model to assist staff managing claims, however, details of what the model does, and how it is used, are somewhat sketchy, says spokesperson for the Universitys Artificial Intelligence and Law in New Zealand Project, Associate Professor James Maclaurin.
The most concrete information comes from a short press release issued by ACC indicating that the tool is used to make three types of prediction:
Which clients are likely to need help and should be called proactively,
Which type of case owner should assist the client, and
How long we should expect a claim to be managed.
This somewhat vague description leaves open the possibility that ACC uses these predictions to minimise treatment times, either by intervening in patients treatment, or (more seriously) by declining applicants with long predicted treatment times, says Associate Professor Maclaurin.
The tool makes predictions about future ACC cases using a database of information about 364,000 past claims that were lodged between 2007 and 2013. ACC stresses that details about individual cases are kept private both from ACC staff and from other agencies, says Department of Computer Sciences Professor Alistair Knott, another researcher on the project.
Management still appears to be ultimately under human control: an ACC case owner makes the final decision about each case.
But ACC workers find themselves in a situation increasingly common in our society: their decisions are guided by advice generated automatically by a machine, based on a large set of data extending far beyond their own experience.
We are in the same position when we use Googles navigation system in our cars, or choose a book based on Amazons recommendations. In these cases, having a computer in the decision-making loop seems innocuous enough. It seems less innocuous when it guides the agencies whose decisions have serious consequences for peoples lives. We set out six questions that such agencies must be able to answer about the algorithms they use.
Of course it is a fundamentally a good thing for peoples decision-making to be informed by statistics. Systems like the ACC tool can be quite accurate, but because they dont reason in the way humans do, it is essential that Governments and companies relying on them are able to answer the following questions:
How accurate is the tool, in fact? Predictive tools are easy to evaluate: if the public is to have confidence in the ACC tool, and the courts are to evaluate its use, the agency should give a public account of how it was evaluated. Without divulging personal details, this should include a thorough description of the data set on which it was assessed. Can the agency explain the way this tool works so that clients could appeal particular decisions? Does the use of this tool distort the way the agency pursues its stated policy objectives? By passing the buck to the machine, is the agency to ducking its responsibility to make fair and humane decisions about treatment of New Zealanders in need? Does this tool implicitly discriminate against individuals on problematic grounds such as age, ethnicity or gender? Importantly, there is simply no way to remove this bias without compromising the accuracy of its predictions. There is a real risk that the ACC tool unfairly discriminates against some clients. This possibility needs to be explored in an evaluation of the system. Are employees effectively trained in the use of the system? While the predictive system is probably intended to be used as a guide, to supplement the case owners own knowledge and judgements, it is easy to fall into autopilot mode when guided by a systemespecially if it is fairly accurate. (The dangers of autopilot mode are particularly clear if the systems errors are prone to bias, of the kind just mentioned.) The charge of falling into autopilot mode is often levelled at judges using the US predictive system.
Predictive analytics technologies show great potential in informing public decision-making, but it is important for these technologies to be evaluated and scrutinised when used in the public domain. It may be that ACC has addressed the issues we raise in its own internal training and evaluation processes. But we are calling for ACC to provide a public account of how it uses its predictive tool, so as to maintain the integrity of its decision-making, says Faculty of Law Professor Colin Gavaghan.
For more information, contact:
Associate Professor James Maclaurin
Email james.maclaurin@otago.ac.nz
Associate Professor Colin Gavaghan
Email colin.gavaghan@otago.ac.nz
Associate Professor Alistair Knott
Email alik@cs.otago.ac.nz
The authors are investigators on the Artificial Intelligence and Law in New Zealand Project at the University of Otago, funded by the New Zealand Law Foundation.
CLAUDIA HARRIS | The Sun
Capt. Monica Horton (left) with the Salvation Army, the July Groceries for Good charity, receives a check for $1,990 from Banks Market cashier Andrea Elmore. Elmore is the cashier who raised the most during July.
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New U.K. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt has reversed most of an economic package announced by the government just weeks ago, including a planned cut in income taxes. Hunt said Monday he was scrapping almost all the tax cuts announced last month by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Liz Truss, and also signaled that public spending cuts are on the way. It was a bid to soothe turbulent financial markets spooked by fears of excessive government borrowing. The move raises questions about how long the beleaguered prime minister can stay in office, though Truss insisted she has no plans to quit. She vowed to lead the Conservatives into the next general election, but many in the party want her gone.
The outcome puts Merkel on course for a fourth term as chancellor - but means that she likely faces the tricky task of forming a new coalition government with two new partners.
By AP: Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc won a lackluster victory in Germany's national election Sunday while the anti-migrant, nationalist Alternative for Germany party managed a triumphant entry into parliament.
Merkel's main center-left rivals, the Social Democrats, slid to their worst result since World War II, projections showed. The party, led by Merkel's challenger Martin Schulz, vowed immediately to leave her coalition government and go into opposition.
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The outcome puts Merkel on course for a fourth term as chancellor - but means that she likely faces the tricky task of forming a new coalition government with two new partners. Merkel acknowledged that it would take time, but said that "we live in stormy times " and other parties should show responsibility.
"I have the intention of achieving a stable government in Germany, and that has been a hallmark" of the country, she said.
Projections for ARD and ZDF public television, based on exit polls and partial counting, showed Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and their Bavaria-only allies, the Christian Social Union, winning around 33 percent of the vote - down from 41.5 percent four years ago. It was one of their weakest post-war showings.
Schulz's Social Democrats were trailing far behind, with just under 21 percent support. That would be the outright worst post-war for the party, which has served since 2013 as the junior partner in a "grand coalition" of Germany's biggest parties under Merkel.
Merkel was greeted at her party's headquarters by supporters applauding and chanting "Angie!"
"Of course, we would have preferred a better result, that is completely clear," she said. "But we mustn't forget that we have had an extremely challenging parliamentary term behind us."
"We have a mandate to form a new government, and no government can be formed against us," Merkel added.
"We want to win back AfD voters by solving problems, by taking account of their concerns and fears, and above all with good policies ," Merkel added.
Smaller parties were the chief beneficiaries of the erosion in support for Germany's traditionally dominant parties - above all the right-wing Alternative for Germany, or AfD, whose support was just over 13 percent. AfD capitalized on discontent with established politicians but particularly targeted those angry over the influx of more than 1 million mostly Muslim migrants into Germany in the past two years under Merkel.
AfD co-leader Alexander Gauland vowed that "we will take our country back" and promised to "chase" Merkel.
"This is a big day in our party's history. We have entered the Bundestag and we will change this country," Gauland said.
Big cheers went up at AfD's election party after exit polls showed them finishing in third place. Some supporters chanted "AfD! AfD!" and others started singing the German national anthem.
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Outsides, hundreds of anti-AfD protesters shouted "all Berlin hates the AfD," ''Nazi pigs," and other slogans, while several protesters threw bottles as police kept them away from the building.
Another big winner Sunday was the pro-business Free Democratic Party, which was set to return to parliament with some 10.5 percent of the vote. The party was Merkel's coalition partner in her second term from 2009-2013 but lost all its seats at the last election.
"In a country that is big on schadenfreude, our comeback is an encouraging message - after failure, a new beginning is possible," party leader Christian Lindner told supporters.
The traditionally left-leaning Greens were seen winning around 9 percent of the vote and the Left Party also 9 percent, meaning both stay in parliament.
The new parliament will have six caucuses, compared with four previously, and the Social Democrats said they intend to lead the opposition.
"We have suffered a crushing election defeat," Schulz said. "It is completely clear that the role the voters have given us is as the opposition."
Referring to the AfD's third-place finish, he said "there cannot be a far-right party leading the opposition in Germany."
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If the Social Democrats stick to their pledge, Merkel will effectively have only one option to form her new government: teaming up with the Free Democrats and the Greens in an alliance that has never yet been tried in a national German government.
That combination - known as a "Jamaica" coalition because the parties' colors match those of that Caribbean nation's flag - will have to overcome the traditional distrust between both the Free Democrats and the Greens and between parts of Merkel's conservative bloc and the Greens.
The Left Party is incompatible with the conservatives and all have voted not to work with AfD.
The 'Jamaica' alliance "could work ... the (conservative) Union, Greens and Free Democrats do have similar voters," said Karl-Rudolf Korte, a political scientist at Duisburg-Essen University.
"To keep the chancellery, Ms. Merkel will make any concession," Schulz said in a bitter appearance alongside other party leaders on German public television. He accused Merkel of conducting a "scandalous" campaign that systematically avoided contentious issues and "created a vacuum" that AfD filled.
Mainstream parties' leaders vowed a robust response to AfD's entry into parliament. Greens co-leader Katrin Goering-Eckardt told supporters: "there will again be Nazis sitting in parliament."
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"We will not let one single attack on German democracy stand," she said, to applause.
Merkel has over the years pulled her party toward the center, but may now face new pressure for a more robust conservative image.
An often-awkward conservative ally, Bavarian Governor Horst Seehofer, who has long called for a fixed annual cap on the number of migrants that Germany accepts, said the result Sunday shows that the conservatives have "an open flank to the right."
"It is particularly important that we close this flank with ... clear political positions," he said.
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Julia Scott Vrooman has always been in the news, noted The Pantagraph in early October 1976.
The occasion was her 100th birthday, held at her East Taylor Street home in which she was born and raised, and spent most of her adult life.
Still spry of mind, if not so much of body, Vrooman recalled her role as a Washington, D.C. socialite during the Woodrow Wilson administration, when her husband Carl served as assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
At the end of the First World War, she then earned national attention for her charitable work in battle-scarred Europe, as she mostly traveled across occupied Germany to entertain homesick doughboys (as American soldiers were known) with Mrs. Vroomans Jazz Band.
Julia Scott Vroomans life was one of privilege. Her father, Matthew T. Scott, founded the small McLean County community of Chenoa, and owned some 5,000 surrounding acres in northern McLean and southern Livingston counties.
In 1872, Matthew and his wife, Julia Green Scott, moved to Bloomington, purchasing the residence at 701 E. Taylor St. (now the Vrooman Mansion bed and breakfast). Their daughter Julia was born there in 1876.
Eighteen years later, in 1894, the younger Julia met her future husband, Carl Vrooman, while making her Grand Tour of Europe. They were married in 1896, and would make their first of many return visits to Europe the following year. Well-educated and modestly wealthy with a shared independent streak, Julia and Carl lived a life forever on-the-go.
Julia arrived in Europe in August 1918, having volunteered to work for the YMCA and its programs serving American soldiers. I have no children, she said at the time. I am in perfect health. I am fortunate enough to be able to speak both French and Italian. If, instead of looking for an opportunity to get into war work, I were looking for an excuse to avoid it, I could not find one.
After training in England, she arrived in Paris just in time for the armistice. Yet she soon realized that the long, dreary period of occupation and demobilization meant that there was much work still to do, especially in the smaller and more isolated American camps with little recreational opportunities.
As such, Vrooman spent the rest of 1918 and much of the following year visiting American soldiers, many of whom were stationed in occupied Germany. She became famous for traveling with her self-styled jazz band comprised of soldiers playing a ragged early ragtime before their fellow countrymen.
Where the boys did not have musical instruments they made them out of frying pans and other camp utensils, quipped Vrooman. It is surprising what a lot of music you can get out of string, stretched over a frying pan if you adjust your ear to the music.
Jazz was a newly emerging style of American music given a cultural and commercial boost with the Great Migration of African Americans to northern cities such as Chicago and New York. During the war, the colored 15th New York Regiments band famously brought its ragtime to France, and this and similar efforts helped spread this distinctly American sound to other units, both black and white, as well as to Europeans across the continent.
Vrooman also used her influence and personal resources to aid French civilians, eventually picking up the informal title, The Apostle of the Lost Tribes.
Much to her frustration, it was impossible to keep a stable roster of band mates, given that their units were often on the move or being sent home. We usually went out into the back districts where the boys seldom saw anybody but themselves, Vrooman said. In two different camps I found that the only pianist was in the guardhouse, and it was necessary to borrow him from the captain for the occasion.
She also didnt hesitate to ask for favors high up the chain of command. For instance, she said both Maj. Gen. Joseph E. Kuhn, commander of the 79th Division, and Marine Corps Gen. LeRoy P. Hunt, put automobiles at my disposal and gave me the range of the camps.
The letters back to her mother also tell us that the indefatigable Vrooman was having the time of her life. In one such letter, written in July 1919 from Germany, she good naturedly criticized the local dinner fare. Why will a German insist on cooking fresh string beans in vinegar, and seasoning their cabbage with cinnamon? she asked. However, I swallowed it for the definite purpose of nourishment it was to furnish beau coup steam to run the engine fast and hard that night.
But the wars aftermath wasnt all high adventure for Vrooman. The stench, figuratively speaking, of the millions of dead was never far away. Paris is gay, but it is a surface gayety, she reflected. Every third woman you meet is in mourning.
Vrooman returned stateside in mid-December 1919 aboard the Holland-American passenger liner Rotterdam. According to press reports, The Apostle for the Lost Tribes brought an entire French family husband, wife and two children with her on the voyage. They had evidently lost everything in the war and were eager to start life anew.
The Rotterdam battled a furiously violent winter storm much of the way, sheathing her in ice and leaving her forward rails twisted and broken. The ships captain said it was the worst storm he had ever seen on the Atlantic.
Julia and Carl Vrooman continued to travel, though they always returned to Bloomington and their home on East Taylor Street. During the Great Depression, Eleanor Roosevelt paid a visit to Julia. The first lady then raved about her hosts whole wheat bread in her syndicated newspaper column, My Day.
On May 30, 1981, Julia passed away in the same home she was born in 104 years earlier.
Julia and Carl Vrooman are two of the eight featured individuals in this years Evergreen Cemetery Walk, which commemorates the centennial of World War I. Other historical characters include Carolyn Schertz Geneva, a Brokaw Hospital nurse who served in the Army Medical Unit in England, and Edward and Lincoln Bynum, African-American brothers who fought with the famed Black Devils regiment in the trenches of France and Belgium.
Presented by the McLean County Museum of History, the Evergreen Cemetery Walk runs the next two weekends, Sept. 30-Oct. 1, and Oct.7-8. For ticket information, call the museum at 309-827-0428. Hurry, because tickets go fast, and sold-out shows are not uncommon.
LEXINGTON Gov. Bruce Rauner was among 150 motorcyclists who stopped in Lexington on Saturday to honor local veterans.
Did you see all those motorcycles? Theres so many, exclaimed Quincy Miller, 5, of Lexington as the group rumbled into town.
Flags and community members lined Main Street as the Lexington High School band performed to welcome the visitors.
Members of local scout troops joined Rauner on stage in front of the American Legion War Memorial for the pledge of allegiance.
This is the warmest welcome Ive ever had in the state of Illinois, said Rauner to the crowd of a few hundred. Thank you for your patriotism. This means the world to us.
An Illinois governor hasnt visited Lexington since 1908, said Mayor Spencer Johansen.
Its exciting that hes stopping here. This is a great community and I love to see how the town pulls together, said Johansen.
Rauner organized an annual motorcycle ride from Chicago to Springfield to raise money to fund the national group Honor Flight Network.
Several local World War II veterans attended the governor's visit. Rauner gave them honorary certificates from the state.
Its not every day that you meet the governor, said Eldon Bryant of Chenoa, a World War II Navy veteran. Ive been on the Honor Flight. It was amazing seeing the Vietnam Memorial.
World War II Navy veteran William Tracy of Lexington said he was happy to see Rauner raising money for Honor Flights.
Its a great thing. Id like to go on the flight some day, said Tracy.
Rauners motorcycle group raised $10,000 last year and had a goal of $12,000 this year.
The group stopped in Dwight and Lincoln before ending in Springfield with a barbecue, band and ceremony for veterans.
Motorcycle riders and veterans were encouraged to join the procession at each stop, with an estimated 400 riders making the final group in Springfield.
What I love about riding is not only the feeling of freedom, but the camaraderie and how riders are so active in the community. Its an honor for me to ride with them, said Rauner.
In his prescient science-fiction novel The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson describes a post-national world in which people organize themselves into affinity groups called phyles. Some choose to be Victorians, emulating the beliefs and aesthetic of 19th-century Britain. Others identify with the values and dress of the Boers. The Celestial Kingdom is a Chinese culture phyle. In The Diamond Age, globalization has erased the nation-state and left people always hungry for belonging to identify themselves entirely by culture.
A provocative new essay by Andrew Sullivan, America Wasnt Built for Humans, describes the emergence of two American phyles. One is more racially diverse, urban, secular and globalist. The other is largely white, rural and exurban, religious and nationalist. Their conflict is the context of American politics. At stake is the idea that American describes a single people.
In Sullivans description, the myths that used to help unify the country the ideal of assimilation, the idea of Americas founders as exemplars of constitutional values have been weakened. We dismantled many of our myths, he argues, but have not yet formed new ones to replace them. The result is the dangerous triumph of cultural identification over unifying political ideals.
Who is at fault for the depth of this mental divide? It is the nature of political polarization that both American tribes blame each other. Sullivan blames them both, but not quite equally.
According to Sullivan, members of the blue tribe have created problems in the realm of ideology. Some have promiscuously accused the red phyle of hate speech and white supremacy, rendering the terms less powerful when required to describe the real thing. Marxist ideologies on race and gender have become the premises of higher education, the orthodoxy of a new and mandatory religion, says Sullivan. (The essay may generate some controversy for Sullivans forthright criticism of the recent direction being taken by Ta-Nehisi Coates on racial issues.)
But it is the red tribe, in Sullivans view, that has most effectively injected tribalism into politics. It was Barry Goldwater (by opposing the Civil Rights Act) who re-racialized the competition between the two parties. It was former California Gov. Pete Wilson who cultivated a fear of migrants for political purposes. It was Newt Gingrich who disdained comity and embraced politics as combat. And it is Donald Trump who has given angry whites their own form of identity politics.
As an electoral matter, Sullivan finds the two American tribes eerily balanced and committed to obliterating the other side. We are seeing what happens when an unrepentant tribalist controls the presidency. Depending on the political fate of the House of Representatives, we may see what happens when the opposing tribe tries to remove him.
The problem identified by Sullivan is that tribalism is our default value the our here covering all Homo sapiens. The ability to quickly and intuitively distinguish us from them likely someone from another tribe intent on taking resources or lives was a tremendous evolutionary advantage on the plains of Africa. It is slightly less helpful in the halls of Congress. But the history of demagoguery shows how useful it can be in the gaining and holding of power. We have created a Star Wars civilization, said E.O. Wilson, with Stone Age emotions.
Sullivan believes that Americas founders would have been surprised by our cultural tribalism and skeptical that any republic could survive it. Im inclined to think that Alexander Hamilton who viewed men as essentially ambitious, vindictive and rapacious would be unfazed. But few (or none) of the founders would have viewed political parties based on cultural identification as a positive thing.
Most interestingly, Sullivan proposes a response to tribalism that is not structural, but essentially spiritual. He urges a renewed appreciation of individuality, citing himself a gay Catholic, conservative independent, religious secularist as a misfit challenge to tribal conformity. As an evangelical sympathetic to gay rights, a Republican critic of Trump and a compassionate conservative, I can relate. We need a political system that makes room for human complexity.
Sullivan also urges mutual forgiveness as the basis for genuine reconciliation. No tribal conflict, he says, has ever been unwound without magnanimity. We need the spirit of Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela in our politics, which is essentially to call for a miracle. It is the secret strength of democracy that miracles occasionally happen.
Michael Gersons email address is michaelgerson@washpost.com.
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100 years ago
Sept. 24, 1917: Navy Lt. and Mrs. Roscoe Schuirmann visited his parents in Chenoa and have now left for California. They are on their honeymoon and were greeted by a lot of friends while in Chenoa. (He later became a famous son of Chenoa when he was promoted to admiral.)
75 years ago
Sept. 24, 1942: Another war bond auction brought $147,000 to the war effort. This one also featured movie and stage stars. (Among the stars was Buddy Ebsen, who later played Barnaby Jones; Jed Clampett of the Beverly Hillbillies; and Davy Crocketts pal Georgie Russell on TV.)
50 years ago
Sept. 24, 1967: Long time baker Cliff L. Keith has died at age 74. His bakery produced Banner Bread, a well-known brand in town. The Banner Bakery began as Keiths Bakery in Normal in 1930. Keith operated it by himself until his three sons joined the business in 1948.
25 years ago
Sept. 24, 1992: Bloomington and three other Illinois cities had been contending for the new Spiegel catalog distribution center. But Spiegels decision wasnt good news for anyone in Illinois. They announced today they will set up in Groveport, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus.
The National Identification Authority has outdoored a new national identification card, with the promise to launch its massive registration exercise.
At a news briefing in Accra Wednesday, NIA Executive Director, Professor Ken Agyemang Attefuah said the Authority is prepared to embark the exercise projected to formalise Ghanas economy.
The National Identification Authority is ready to provide Ghanaians with a modern robust national identification system and a smart ID card that will meet the modern aspirations of the people of Ghana and carry us into the future, he said.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is expected to launch the nationwide registration exercise on September 15.
The launch will officially pave the way for the rolling out of the new identification process.
The NIA has explained the exercise will start with the security agencies, schools, banks and the population in the Greater Accra Region.
The next stop of the registration van will be areas in the Central, Western and Brong Ahafo Regions. The rest of the regions will later follow, the NIA has said.
Ghanaians resident in other countries have not been left out of the registration process. An opportunity will be given to them to register for the card at a fee wherever they are.
The new identification system was an outcome of a private public partnership with the Margins Group, tasked to make the new ID cards.
Margins Group CEO, Moses Baiden described the new card as the most secured Identification card with about 14 international security features.
It also has a multi-purpose function, he told the media.
Another new feature of the card is the passport and ECOWAS logos on it which allow it to be used in place of a passport across ECOWAS member countries.
Mr Baiden explained one of the functions of the new card is that apart from it being a national identification card, it will also be linked to ones bank account to enhance modern payment systems.
The new ID card is expected to have a lifespan of 10 years after which it will be renewable at a fee to be determined by the Authority.
Source: myjoyonline
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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As President Trump spoke to African leaders at the United Nations on Wednesday, he made not one but two references to a country called Nambia.
Nambias health system is increasingly self-sufficient, Trump said approvingly at one point.
Unfortunately, there's a problem good health care or not, Nambia doesn't exist. And so the U.S. president's laudatory comments about a nonexistent country swiftly invited ridicule online, with many suggesting that Trump had created an entirely new nation by combining two existing ones Zambia and Namibia.
A White House transcript of Trump's comments corrected his error, making clear that the president had not intended to invent a new nation and had, in fact, been referring to the very real country of Namibia, which is in southern Africa.
So how did Namibians react to Nambia?
Let's talk #Namibia!
Not to be confused with Nambia - a fictional land probably somewhere between the borders of Namibia and Zambia pic.twitter.com/rHLLUYiGNX
|CNA|Ndapewoshali | (@Curate_Namibia) September 21, 2017
Namibia isn't often the subject of Western attention. The country of just 2 million was granted independence in 1990 after a long war with neighboring South Africa, which had occupied the former German colony in 1915. It is perhaps best known internationally for its long-standing diamond mining industry.
Hage Geingob, Namibia's U.S.-educated president, was in the room with Trump as he made his speech. In public at least, he offered no reaction to the suggestion that he was the leader of Nambia.
Graham Hopwood, executive director of Namibia's independent Institute for Public Policy Research, said this might be because of diplomatic protocol, but he also suggested that the gaffe was likely to have been overlooked by Geingob anyway for the sake of good ties between Namibia and the United States.
Neither the Namibian Embassy in Washington nor Namibia's Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation responded when asked by WorldViews on Thursday about Trump's comments.
The talk of Nambia was also surprisingly absent from the websites of many major Namibian media outlets, including the newspaper the Namibian and the Namibian Broadcasting Corp.
On social media, the reaction wasn't so muted. Some poked fun; others were angry.
Hage: great speech Trup
Trump: its TruMp, the M is not silent
Hage: oh like the I in Namibia!#Namibia is not #Nambia pic.twitter.com/lKixAmOsLd
Melvin Hosea Angula (@MelvinAngula) September 21, 2017
The President of United States calls #Namibia #Nambia
Me: pic.twitter.com/5P0XZdxTZo
TANGI (@18opson) September 21, 2017
My Pres and his large crew been in America for days and now we called Nambia, the disrespect.yall fly back home today.
Ndina Smiley (@Ndina_Smiley) September 21, 2017
When you're leader of an African country but can't scold Trump on Nambia blunder because your people can't afford to loose out on USAID. pic.twitter.com/yOMoeUZM2m
Benedick M Louw (@benedicklouw) September 21, 2017
S/O to @Curate_Namibia of the week and @HendrinaNel for making @TheWashintonPos online article on #NamBia pic.twitter.com/9FD9PNKcOi
#BLACKFELLOW FISHUR (@shaningwaF) September 22, 2017
Source: Daily Graphic
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The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with H.E. Mr. Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana.
The two leaders exchanged views on the situation in the Republic of Ghana and the sub-region. They also discussed the challenges of terrorism and violent extremism.
The Secretary-General expressed appreciation for President Akufo-Addos engagement and commitment, as co-chair of the group of 17 eminent Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) advocates, to the SDGs.
The Secretary-General commended the Republic of Ghana for its contribution to the resolution of the post-electoral crisis in the Republic of The Gambia.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) of Bangladesh has dismissed the Indian media report about an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) of Bangladesh has dismissed the Indian media report about an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. On Saturday, an Indian news channel - NEWS18 aired a report about a failed attempt on the life of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
On Sunday afternoon, in a rare statement released to the media, the PMO said that the report published in several regional and international news outlets are totally baseless, misleading and intentional.
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The release is signed by Ashraful Alam Khokan, deputy press secretary to the prime minister. The statement said that some media outlets on September 23 published and broadcast a report about a failed attempt on the life of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina using a source of a foreign TV channel and an international online news agency.
It said a number of TV channels also aired the news and held talk shows on the so-called failed attack on the premier by involving some members of a special force.
"This is to inform all that the news of the attack on the honourable prime minister on August 24, 2017 is completely baseless, misleading and motivated. It is not expected at all from any responsible person or conscious media to publish or broadcast such a confusing report which goes against the overall interest of the country's security," the press release added.
The PMO also earnestly requested all concerned to run judicious media activities by maintaining caution before publishing such "baseless and confusing" news.
According to the reports that cited anonymous sources in Indian and Bangladesh intelligence agencies, the foiled attack was plotted by rogue members of the Special Security Force or SSF in coordination with banned terrorist outfit Jama'tul Mujahideen Bangladesh or JMB.
Before the PMO issued the statement, cabinet member and veteran Awami League leader Amir Hossain Amu said the report was untrue. He said to media that the news about an attempt on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's life was not true. The government has no knowledge of such attacks.
However, on Sunday noon, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said to journalist at Banderban, near the Myanman-Bangladesh Border, that a vested group, comprising local and foreign elements, is plotting to kill the prime minister as they envy the her popularity over the Rohingya issue.
--- ENDS ---
"There is no winner or loser in this, we are all winners because we will continue to live in peace with one another and cooperate with one another across many spheres Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia said while reacting to the ITLOS ruling regarding the maritime boundary battle.
ITLOS on Saturday, 23 September ruled in favour of Ghana, a development that further protects Ghanas maritime boundary.
Commenting on the development at an event in Accra after the ruling, Dr Bawumia added: God has ordained today not only as a remarkable day; we also have some very good news as the country Ghana. We have been in a very friendly and brotherly dispute with our brothers Cote dIvoire over the demarcation of our maritime boundaries.
This friendly and brotherly dispute was taken to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and judgment was rendered today and that judgment is very consistent with Ghanas position.
We are thankful to God. We are also thankful to our brothers from Cote dIvoire and the Government of Cote dIvoire. There is no winner or loser in this, we are all winners because we will continue to live in peace with one another and cooperate with one another across many spheres.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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The Omanhene of Nsein Traditional Area, Awulae Agyefi Kwame II, has commended President Akufo-Addo for the courageous decision to fight against illegal mining popularly known as galamsey.
He has also pledged the commitment of his chiefs to the fight promised every support needed to ensure the countrys natural resources are protected for future generations.
Awulae Agyefi Kwame was speaking at the climax of the 2017 Kundum Festival, which also marked 50 years since his enstoolment as Omanhene.
Addressing guests at the durbar, including Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Awulae Agyefi Kwame chastised previous governments and some chiefs for looking on unconcerned while illegal miners destroyed the environment.
I want to especially thank President Nana Akufo-Addo for the courageous decision to fight galamsey. We are all seeing the effects on the environment, especially our water bodies. My people and I say thank you. Some have come and gone but did nothing about it.
Didnt the NDC government see the negative effects of galamsey in Ghana? They feared the consequences of fighting it so they kept quiet while our environment was destroyed. I am disappointed in them. But not just them. Didnt chiefs also see the negative effects of galamsey?
"What did they say when they saw the waters in Western Region being destroyed? Until President Akufo-Addo started this fight, what did they do? We were all afraid. We thank God for Nana Akufo-Addo, who has said he we will fight no matter the consequence. Mr Vice President, please send our thanks to him.
We the chiefs of Nsein are fully committed to the fight against galamsey. We fully support the fight, and we will continue to point out the ills of society to the government. Awulae Agyefi pledged.
While commending the President for the introduction of the Free Senior High School policy, the Nsein Omanhene bemoaned the rising spate of teenage pregnancy in the area, which is preventing girls from taking full advantage of scholarships offered by the Ghana Rubber Estates Limited and other companies.
He also appealed for the rehabilitation of Axim town roads and the roads within Nsein Senior High School.
Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia commended Awulae Agyefi Kwame II for his remarkable leadership over the years, which has resulted in 50 years of peace and unity in the Nsein Traditional area.
He reiterated governments commitment to meeting the development aspirations of all Ghanaians, with Nzemaland and the whole of Western region receiving its fair share of the national cake.
The Vice President was accompanied by Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Western region Minister and his Deputy, Gifty Kusi; Hon Catherine Afeku, Minister for Tourism and Creative Arts who is also MP for the area; Hon Joe Ghartey, Minister for Railway Development and MP for Essikado Ketan; Hon Kwaku Asiamah, Minister for Transport.
Sons and daughters of Nsein, including Mad Charlotte Osei, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission; Mrs Josephine Nkrumah, head of the National Commission for Civic Education; and mrs Eva Mends, Head of Budget at the Ministry of Finance, were also present.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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Operatives of the National Security and the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) will soon invite ex-Kumasi mayor, Kojo Bonsu, to answer questions regarding the role he allegedly played in the demonstration against President Akufo-Addo in New York on Thursday.
A recorded audio, on which Kojo Bonsu was specifically mentioned as the brain behind the somewhat ill-motive protest march against the Ghanaian leader, has landed in the hands of the security agents.
Richard Adjei Mensah Ofori-Atta aka Tomtom, a top New Patriotic Party (NPP) member who is part of President Akufo-Addos delegation to the US for the United Nations General Assembly meeting, made the disclosure.
The BNI and the National Security will soon invite Kojo Bonsu and Appiah Stadium to answer key questions for allegedly planning to humiliate the president of the land, he predicted.
He said Appiah Stadium, a staunch ex-President Mahama supporter in Kumasi, called him (Tomtom) on phone and mentioned Kojo Bonsu was the one, who is organizing the demonstration to dent the presidents image in the US.
According to Tomtom, Appiah Stadium claimed that Kojo Bonsu tasked the protesters to demonstrate with wrapped paper objects in their mouths to portray to the international community that President Akufo-Addo smokes wee.
Mr Mensah Ofori-Atta disclosed that Appiah Stadium also said Kojo Bonsu tried to secure US visa for him (Appiah Stadium) to play a leading role in tarnishing the presidents image during the United Nations General Assembly Meeting, but he was denied the visa.
He said on Okay FM in Accra that he managed to record whatever Appiah Stadium who is a dyed-in-the-wool National Democratic Congress (NDC) member said to him about Kojo Bonsus fiendish plot against the president on phone.
He claimed that all the names that Appiah Stadium mentioned to him as part of the demonstrators, including one Dr. Lawrence, indeed appeared on the streets of New York on Thursday and demonstrated against Ghanas first gentleman.
Mr Mensah Ofori-Atta, a former NPP Manhyia Constituency Organizer in Kumasi, expressed gross worry about how the few demonstrators misbehaved and even tried to get close to the president, which is uncalled for.
The demonstrators initially put up a weird behaviour and after that they also tried to even enter a restaurant in New York where the president and his delegation were, he complained.
According to him, the presidents team had intelligence that Kojo Bonsu would organize a demonstration against the Ghana contingent even before they left Ghana, adding that he (Bonsu) and Appiah Stadium would be dealt with by the law.
Gabbys Allegation
According to him, the standard of Ghana politics had been reduced, saying that those alleging that Gabby Okyere Darko, a lawyer and NPP member, is taking US$20,000 bribe from people before he would grant them audience to the president, are propagandists.
He stated that Gabby Okyere Darko is a clean person, who is playing his roles to help transform the country, and dared those making the wild allegation to boldly come out and provide their evidence or forever remain silent.
Appiah Stadiums Response
Speaking on the same network, Appiah Stadium admitted that he talked to Tomtom on phone three days before about the intended demonstration against Nana Akufo-Addo in New York.
According to him, he disclosed to Tomtom that he (Kojo Bonsu) tried sponsoring him to the US to tarnish the presidents image.
He stated that Tomtom and the presidents contingent had no basis to call for the arrest of Appiah or Kojo Bonsu, since they had not erred in any way in organizing the protest march.
Appiah said when Mr. Mahama was president, the NPP also organized a similar demonstration against him (Mahama), when he travelled to the US, where they labeled him (Mahama) as a security man.
He said, If you demonstrated against Mr. Mahama and tagged him as security man for all to see, why are you now complaining that some people are tagging Nana Akufo-Addo as a wee smoker?
Appiah recounted how Mensah Ofori-Atta also used his radio station in the USA to tarnish Mr. Mahamas image prior to the 2016 elections, saying that Tomtom has no basis to cry foul over the demonstration against Nana Akufo-Addo.
He even congratulated one Kwaku Skirt, said to be the leader of the demonstrators, for a splendid job done, noting that Ghanaians like him (Appiah) are happy about his delivery.
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Source: Daily Guide
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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says Ghana will one day have a female president.
Addressing this years Global Citizen Festival in New York City, Akufo-Addo said he together with his other African Heads of State are committed to waging war against gender inequality on the continent to ensure that women are given equal treatment as their male counterparts.
I am equally committed to ensuring access to a minimum of secondary education to every girl in Ghana, a policy that has already begun to work. I am equally committed to mobilising support towards ending child marriage in Ghana and on the whole of the African continent. Together we can achieve gender equality, empower women and also achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals and one day, we are going to have the first female President of Ghana, the President said
Global Citizen Festival
The Global Citizen Festival is organized by the Global Poverty Project and its current creative director is Coldplay lead vocalist, Chris Martin. The Global Citizen Festival is part of a movement to end extreme poverty by contributing to charity acts on the website, including watching videos and signing petitions, fans can get free tickets to the festival. In addition, the organizers strive to make the event global by live-streaming events in public locations.
Since 2015, the goals of the festival have been closely aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, a set of seventeen aspirational Global Goals to accomplish by the year 2030. The Global Citizen Music Festival was first held in New York City on September 29, 2012.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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Tiffany Dickson is suing the parents of Eric Frein, claiming they were aware of and fostered their son's disdain for law enforcement that led to his slaying of her husband, state police Cpl. Bryon K. Dickson.
The Citizens' Voice reports that Tiffany Dickson filed the survival and wrongful death action Thursday in Lackawanna County Court, seeking damages from Frein and his parents, Eugene M. and Deborah Frein of Canadensis.
The lawsuit accuses Frein's parents of manipulating their son "into developing a strong dislike for the police and acting on that dislike" in carrying out his Sept. 12, 2014 ambush attack at the barracks.
Frein, 33, was convicted in April of shooting and killing Dickson and critically injuring Trooper Alex Douglass. He was sentenced to death that same month.
During a hearing in the penalty phase of Frein's trial, Tiffany Dickson said her life is "sad, lonely" with her husband gone.
The lawsuit also contends Frein's parents supported their son financially and knew he was storing weapons, ammunition and other supplies that he subsequently used in his attack on the barracks and while evading police during the manhunt, according to the report.
The Citizens' Voice also reported that Tiffany Dickson initially filed a writ of summons against the Freins, putting them on notice that a lawsuit would follow, in August 2016.
Amid growing pressure in domestic and foreign relations, President Donald Trump late Saturday night threatened North Korea leader Kim Jong-un.
In a tweet posted at 11:08 p.m., Trump said:
"Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!"
Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017
Trump was referring to a speech by North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, who previously said Trump was on a suicide mission and is "a mentally deranged person full of megalomania" holding "the nuclear button," according to the New York Times.
With Trump calling Jong-un the "rocket man," Trump is making "our rocket's visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable all the more," Ri said.
Warm and humid conditions are expected for much of central Pennsylvania this weekend, according to forecasters.
High temperatures are expected to approach 90 in some areas on Sunday and Monday. Temperatures are expected to be about 10 degrees above for the area through Wednesday.
"A break from the heat is forecast by the end of next week when temperatures will cool back down to near normal," according to the National Weather Service at State College.
Conditions will remain dry too. As of Saturday morning, no rain is in the forecast through Thursday.
The average high temperature this time of year for the Harrisburg area is 73, the average low is 53.
For Saturday, expect sunny skies and a high near 86. The low at night will be around 63.
SUNDAY: Sunny, with a high near 89. Low around 66.
MONDAY: Sunny, with a high near 88. Low around 67.
TUESDAY: Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Low around 65.
WEDNESDAY: Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. Low around 64.
THURSDAY: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. Low around 55.
For the latest forecasts, visit PennLive's weather page.
You can see live weather updates via the National Weather Service and other Twitter sources below.
Tweet us at @pennlive with photos of inclement weather at your place, incidents you see on your commute or send a submission to submissions@pennlive.com.
An assistant professor of a Delhi University college has been booked for allegedly insulting Hindu goddess Durga in a post on Facebook.
By PTI: An assistant professor of a Delhi University college has been booked for allegedly insulting Hindu goddess Durga in a post on Facebook.
BJP-affiliated National Democratic Teachers Front had yesterday filed the police complaint against Kedar Kumar Mandal, an assistant professor at Dayal Singh College.
The controversial Facebook update was made at 07:43 pm on Friday but deleted later.
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The police said Mandal was booked late last night under sections 153A and 295A of the Indian Penal Code. These sections are hate speech laws which can attract imprisonment between three to five years or a fine or both.
Mandal did not respond to messages and could not be reached for comments.
RSS-affiliated ABVP too condemned the post and demanded immediate suspension of the professor.
"We demand his suspension and we request the student community to boycott his classes. Mandal has provoked sentiments during a festival time of Hindu - Navratri," ABVP's Dayal Singh College unit alleged in a statement.
"If allowed to continue as a teacher he will only spread hatred among students," it alleged.
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Senior Grower Mikael Rykes inside the flowering room where two-week old marijuana plants grow at Harvest One Cannabis Inc. in Duncan, B.C., on August 4, 2017. Municipalities in British Columbia are clamouring to have a say in the marijuana policies they believe will fall largely on their shoulders to enforce when pot becomes legal next summer. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
Senior grower Mikael Rykes inside the flowering room where two-week old marijuana plants grow at Harvest One Cannabis Inc. in Duncan, B.C., on August 4, 2017. Municipalities in British Columbia are clamouring to have a say in the marijuana policies they believe will fall largely on their shoulders to enforce when pot becomes legal next summer. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2017, file photo, Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during the committee's hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Cruz said heAos against the Republican bill that would erase much of President Barack ObamaAos health law. If the Texas Republican sticks to that stand, GOP leaders will have little hope that their 11th-hour Senate push will survive. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
Police officers of Catalan Mossos d'Esquadra stand guard at a checkpoint near the airport in Barcelona, Spain Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017. Spain's Interior Ministry says that a state prosecutor has asked for the central government to coordinate the policing efforts to impede the referendum on Catalonia's secession from Spain. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
By PTI: By Anisur Rahman
Dhaka, Sep 24 (PTI) The Bangladesh government today dismissed as "baseless" media reports that some of the bodyguards of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina were plotting to assassinate her last month.
"This is to inform all that the report of the attack on the honourable Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina) on August 24, 2017 is completely baseless, misleading and motivated,? the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) said in a statement.
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It said "some media outlets on September 23 published and broadcast a report about a failed attempt on the life of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina using as the source a foreign TV channel and an international online news agency".
It said a number of TV channels also aired the news and held talk shows on the "so-called" failed attack on the premier by involving some members of a special force.
"It is not expected at all from any responsible person or conscious media to publish or broadcast such a confusing report which goes against the overall interest of the countrys security," the statement read.
According to the reports the foiled attack was plotted by rogue members of the Special Security Force or SSF in coordination with banned terrorist outfit Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh or JMB, bdnews24 reported.
The reports said six to seven SSF personnel were preparing to attack Hasina on August 24.
The reports said JMB members were supposed to trigger explosions around the office to create a diversion and provide an escape route for the assassins.
Hasina is now in the US, where she had gone to attend the 72nd UN General Assembly.
Hasina was targeted by an Islamist extremist group in 2004.
Islamist militants allegedly backed by a quarters of the then ruling BNP of ex-premier Khaleda Zia hurled grenades in a political rally of the then opposition of her Awami League.
Hasina narrowly escaped the attempt sustaining permanent hearing impairment but 24 people including Awami Leagues women front chief and former Bangladesh president Zillur Rahman?s wife Ivy Rahman were killed. PTI AR PMS PMS
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Alberta Premier Rachel Notley speaks during a speech at MacEwan University in Edmonton on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017. Notley went on the attack against the United Conservative opposition Saturday in a campaign-style speech to party members at MacEwan University. She says a UCP government will return Alberta to the days of the old Progressive Conservatives, where she says family budgets were cut to pay for perks and tax breaks for party friends and the wealthy. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dean Bennett
The BHU campus is on boil for three days following alleged molestation of a student. The girls alleged that they were beaten up by police for seeking safety on the campus.
By Prabhash K Dutta: Hundreds of BHU students today took out a "silent march" against police action on the girls protesting apathy of the university administration following alleged molestation of an Arts student earlier this week.
The students of Mahila Mahavidyala of the Banaras Hindu University, which is on the boil for three days, led the "silent protest march" seeking safety of girls inside the campus. The march was taken out following lathicharge by police last night. "The police chased us today as well," said one of the students participating in the march.
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The protesting girls have very simple demands which are considered as basic safety requirements of the campuses across the universities. "Our demands are simple. We want to feel safe on the campus. University authorities should ensure this," said Akansha Sahay, a BHU student.
"Lighting is not proper. There are no CCTV cameras, not even in the college. You can come and check," Akansha said, adding, "We want proper lighting inside the BHU campus, installation of CCTV cameras, gender sensitisation of male students and staff and officials working on the campus. That's it. We are not demanding anything more."
BHU students are protesting against university administrators' apathy towards safety of girls.
LATHICHARGE ON CAMPUS
The girls on the campus were angry following use of force by police against the protesters injuring many. Some of the girls received serious injuries. "Our protest was peaceful. We did not use violence and police started beating up girls. Male police personnel lathicharged the students of Mahila Mahavidyala. Girls were beaten up," Akansha Singh, another BHU student said.
Akansha Singh rejected police's version that the protesting students clashed with them. She told India Today that "those who created troubles, resorted to violence were outsiders. They were not even the students of the BHU."
"Yet police beat up girls of Mahila Mahavidyala at 1 am," Akansha Singh said.
NO MEETING WITH V-C
Protesting for past three days, the girls have refused to meet the V-C Girish Chandra Tripathi in his chamber. They demand that he should come out and meet us in the open.
"What happens is that the V-C calls around 10 students and warns them against raising their demands. The students are suspended without being given a chance to present their case. The matter ends there. We don't want to follow the same old line. We are concerned about our safety," Singh said.
The students also questioned the response of the BHU administration to the incident of molestation of a girl on Thursday. When the girl complained about molestation, the authorities asked her "what were you doing outside after 6 pm?"
BHU students take out silent march today
HOW IT ALL BEGAN?
A student of the Bachelor of Fine Arts complained on Thursday that she was molested by three men who came on bike as she was returning to her Kundan Devi hostel in BHU campus. The alleged molesters used abusive language for her, touched her inappropriately and passed lewd comments. They fled after her strong resistance.
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Though, the complainant and the protesting girls have maintained that she was molested, the officials have referred to the incident as eve-teasing. The victim complained that a security guard was present a few metres away but he did not do anything to nab the alleged molesters.
The students of Mahila Mahavidyala took the matter to the warden of the hostel. But, instead of taking up the safety of girls seriously, they alleged, the warden blamed the girl for the incident. The warden allegedly asked the girl why she returned so late in the evening.
The warden's response led to a sit-in protest by the girls. They staged a dharna at warden's office around midnight on Thursday. On Friday, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Varanasi, the girls took out marches and held protest at the Lanka Gate of the BHU campus.
The protests continued till Saturday night when police used force injuring several students including girls. Interestingly, the BHU issued a statement calling the protest by girls politically motivated to malign the image of the university at a time when PM Modi visited the city.
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By Amanda Becker
WASHINGTON (Reuters) U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday blasted Senator John McCain for dealing a possibly fatal blow to the latest Republican attempt to dismantle Obamacare.
According to a new independent analysis, the bill awaiting a Senate vote could lead to 21 million fewer Americans having health insurance.
McCain, an Arizona Republican who is being treated for brain cancer and cast a crucial no vote to defeat a similar bill in July, said on Friday that he could not in good conscience vote for the proposal authored by Republican Senators Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham.
He campaigned on Repeal & Replace. Let Arizona down! Trump wrote about McCain on Twitter early Saturday morning.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he will schedule a vote on the Graham-Cassidy bill by Sept. 30, the last day when it could pass in the chamber with a simple majority of 51 votes instead of the 60 typically required.
The bill would take federal money spent on the Medicaid program for the poor and disabled, as well as subsidies to help individuals buy private insurance, and deliver it to the states in block grants.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which analyzes legislation, has not had time to assess the Graham-Cassidy bill before the expected vote. McCain, a close friend of Graham, said he could not support it without knowing how much it would cost, its effect on insurance premiums, and how many people would be affected.
But the Brookings Institution said on Friday that the Graham-Cassidy bill could leave at least 21 million fewer Americans with health insurance by 2020 to 2026. The Washington think tank has generally been supportive of Obamacare, which is formally known as the Affordable Care Act.
The coverage estimate likely understates reductions in insured Americans because it is not clear how states would use the money or if they would face obstacles in setting up new programs, according to Brookings researchers.
What is clear, however, is that the legislation would result in very large reductions in insurance coverage, they wrote.
The Senate Finance Committee on Monday will hold a hearing on the Graham-Cassidy bill. Cassidy, a physician, is expected to testify.
CBO estimates of previous Republican proposals showed they could lead to more than 20 million fewer insured Americans. This complicated passage in the 100-member Senate, where Republicans hold 52 seats and Democrats are unanimously opposed to repeal-and-replace measures.
Republicans need at least 50 votes to pass the bill, relying on Vice President Mike Pence to break a tie. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine has said she was leaning against the Graham-Cassidy bill, as has Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. Kansas Senator Jerry Moran and Alaskas Lisa Murkowski are undecided.
After blasting McCain, Trump on Saturday singled out Paul and Murkowski.
I know Rand Paul and I think he may find a way to get there for the good of the Party! Trump wrote on Twitter.
Regarding Murkowski, he tweeted that in Alaska: Deductibles high, people angry!
The insurance industry, hospitals, consumer activists, the AARP advocacy group and organizations such as the American Medical Association, American Heart Association and American Cancer Society all oppose the bill.
Shares of some health insurers closed higher on Friday after McCain announced his opposition. Centene Corp ended up 1.6 percent, while Humana Inc gained 0.2 percent and Aetna Inc rose 0.1 percent, reversing earlier losses.
(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Lisa Von Ahn)
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Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) exposed how Republicans are meddling in the Russia investigation while recused to discredit attempts to get to the facts while trying to save Donald Trump.
Video:
Transcript via CBSs Face The Nation:
JOHN DICKERSON: And were back with California Congressman Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman, I want to start with a deadline that has passed. The committee has asked the FBI and the Justice Department three times now to give documents related to the so-called Trump dossier.
This is the salacious set of allegations that and the FBI has not responded. Whats going on?
ADAM SCHIFF: Well, this is a subpoena that was issued by our Chairman, and whats unusual about it is the chair recused himself, or so we thought, from the Russian investigation. He has issued a subpoena to the attorney general, who has also recused himself. So two people recused that are seeking documents or refusing to provide documents on an investigation they were supposed to be uninvolved with. But more than that, I think what is really at heart is an effort to discredit Mr. Steele, in an essence also to put the government on trial as a way, I think, of distracting our focus from looking into what Russia did during the election.
Both Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Attorney General Jeff Sessions are supposed to be recused from the investigation, but here they are trying to get House Intelligence Committee off on a wild goose chase over the Steele Dossier. The point is that the more time investigators spend trying to verify the claims in the dossier, the less time they will spend examining potential Trump campaign collusion with Russia.
The Steele dossier has been proven to have some accurate information in it, so Steele is a logical target for a Republican smear campaign. However, the strategy for Republicans on the Russia investigation has always been to muddy the waters by throwing as many different tangents and topics into the mix as they can.
Republicans are trying to distract and sidetrack, but Rep. Schiffs comments are an example of why this tactic is almost certain to fail.
Students of the Banaras Hindu University started a protest against the administration on Friday morning for "shaming" a woman after she complained of two men sexually harassing her on Thursday. With the VC not meeting the students at the venue and police being deployed in view of PM Modi's presence in the city, things soon turned ugly. Here is what happened.
By India Today Web Desk: Residents of the women's hostel of the Banaras Hindu University began a protest on Friday morning. The 13-hour-long protest was against the administration and officials for "shaming" a woman who sought help from the proctorial board's security personnel after two bike-bourne men sexually harassed her while she was walking to her hostel in Triveni Complex.
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The security personnel resorted to victim-blaming asking the woman why she was out of the hostel after sunset, instead of helping her.
The women began their protest and raised a charter of demands, including the VC engaging in a dialogue with them in the presence of media and with live-streaming running on social media.
None of it happened and by Friday night, heavy force was deployed at the varsity in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's presence in the city. PM Modi, who was on a two-day visit to his constituency, was attending events in different parts of the city and reports say that he even had to change his route due to the protests at BHU.
Reports say police resorted to lathi charge on peacefully protesting female students and unverified tweets say male police personnel barged into women's hostels and dragged students out by their hair. A Times of India report said that inmates of men's hostel who joined the protest on Saturday pelted stones at the police forces and that they used petrol bombs even.
Male guards push girls inside their hostels in #BHU to end a protest that started with demand for a safer campus. @TheQuint @QuintHindi pic.twitter.com/bnmAv3emhE- tushar banerjee (@TusharBanerjee) September 23, 2017
With so much going on, social media is flooded with images and videos from the varsity and many people condemning the police action on the students.
Police enters BHU campus lathicharges protesting girls who demanded security. Shame on this govt Beti bachao? ??? pic.twitter.com/GIl70I9CbO- Shabnam Hashmi (@ShabnamHashmi) September 23, 2017
Video: BHU girls speak about violent police action on their peaceful protest pic.twitter.com/ByVpVJnoRA- India Resists (@India_Resists) September 24, 2017
It's better to b cow in Bhu than being a girl cz they r more safeMale PAC FORCE doing this to girls#bhu_molestation #BHUProtest #UnSafeBHU pic.twitter.com/9OigWBb2gt- ritu ragini (@RituRagini) September 23, 2017
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Charleston, SC (29403)
Today
Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 53F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..
Tonight
Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 53F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Nearly two-thirds of South Carolina's utility customers have paid billions for a project that will likely never be completed, here's why and what is being done about it.
Joseph De Laine Jr. stands beside an etching of his father in his Charlotte, N.C., home on May 3, 2004. Night riders burned his family home in 1950 after his father, the Rev. Joseph De Laine, helped organize South Carolina parents to join the Brown v. Board of Education suit ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. File/Nell Redmond/AP
President Joe Biden objected directly to Chinas coercive and increasingly aggressive actions toward Taiwan during the first in-person meeting of his presidency with Xi Jinping, as the two superpower leaders aimed on Monday to manage their differences in the competition for global influence. Read moreBiden, Xi clash on Taiwan but try to manage differences
This November, Virginia voters will elect a new governor. The Democratic candidate is Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam. The Republican candidate is Ed Gillespie.
Northam has been leading in most polls. However, a new survey by Suffolk University finds the candidates tied at 42 percent.
Gillespie nearly defeated Sen. Mark Warner in 2014 despite trailing badly in the polls. Remember, though, that 2014 was a great year for Republicans.
Gillespie is under fire for an ad he ran against Northam in which he attacked his rival for voting against legislation banning sanctuary cities in Virginia. The ad said that sanctuary cities. . .let dangerous illegal immigrants back on the street, increasing the threat of MS-13, a vicious gang with ties to El Salvador that has wreaked havoc in parts of Virginia. It includes pictures of nasty looking members of a different gang with ties to El Salvador.
The left and the mainstream media are calling foul. They compare this ad to the one featuring Willie Horton that was used with great success by the campaign of George H.W. Bush in 1988.
As I argued at length here, the Willie Horton spot was a completely legitimate attack ad. It criticized Bushs opponent, Gov. Dukakis, for releasing Horton (an African-American) from prison for the weekend. Horton used his freedom to undertake a vicious crime spree that included rape.
Al Gore had first raised the issue against Dukakis during the primary season and with good cause. Dukakis had one of the most liberal prisoner release programs in America and it directly produced the horrors described in the advertisement.
The ad was attacked for using a picture of Horton, who looked like a thug. But it wasnt Bushs fault that this vicious criminal didnt resemble a choir boy.
What about Gillespies ad? It states: MS-13 is a menace, yet Ralph Northam voted in favor of sanctuary cities that let dangerous illegal immigrants back on the street, increasing the threat of MS-13. The text on the screen says: Ralph Northam: Increasing the threat of MS-13.
The first two statements arent controversial. MS-13 is a menace. Northam voted against legislation that would have prohibited the establishment of sanctuary cities in Virginia. His vote broke a tie and meant that the legislation did not pass.
Sanctuary cities are, as the Washington Post says, localities that limit or ban cooperation with federal immigration authorities. As the name says, such localities serve, to a considerable degree, as a sanctuary for illegal immigrants.
The likely effect of not cooperating with federal law enforcement officials seeking to arrest illegal immigrants is to keep illegal immigrants, including dangerous ones, on the street. The likely effect of keeping dangerous illegal aliens on the street in portions of Virginia is to increase the threat of MS-13.
The Washington Posts headline (paper edition) to its story about the ad : Gillespie ad blames MS-13 rise on Northam. But the ad says nothing about the causes of MS-13s rise. It simply claims that Northams vote increases its threat.
The Post points out that Virginia has no sanctuary cities. But the issue is a live one, nonetheless, as the fact that it was put to a vote in the legislature shows. Its quite possible that, absent a ban, some of Virginias many liberal localities will become sanctuary cities.
The Post also notes that the picture used by the Gillespie ad is not of MS-13 members, but rather of a rival gang, Barrio 18. Unless Barrio 18 members look significantly more threatening than their counterparts in MS-13, this seems like a quibble.
ThinkProgress complains that El Faro, an online digital newspaper in El Salvador that published the picture of the Barrio 18 members, did not authorize the Gillespie campaign to use the picture. If the campaign has thereby violated El Faros rights, the paper can seek redress.
As a campaign ad, though, Gillespies spot seems legitimate, though less compelling than the Willie Horton ad. Whatever Northams intentions, his vote has the real potential to make life easier for MS-13 and more perilous for those it wants, in the words of its motto, to Kill, Rape, Control.
Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to his constituency Varanasi, student protest at BHU over alleged sexual harassment of female student turned violent. The heavy police force deployed in the campus crushed the protest using force, say reports. Political leaders condemn police action.
Police use force against students protesting against alleged sexual harassment of female student. Photo: Twitter/Shreya_R
By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Varanasi for a two-day visit that ended on Saturday.
Hours after he left his constituency, a large number of Banaras Hindu University students protested against the alleged sexual harassment of a female student. Students say that a third year female student was sexually harassed by two men on a motorcycle near Bharat Kala Bhawan when she was returning to her hostel in Triveni Complex on Thursday.
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A female student leading the protest told the Times of India that when the girl who faced harassment reported the incident to the proctorial board's security personnel they asked why she was out of the hostel after sunset, instead of helping her.
As the student protest that began Friday morning continued till late Saturday accusing the authorities of "shaming" the student who chose to report the incident of sexual harassment she faced.
PROTESTS ON FRIDAY
On learning the response of the security personnel to the incident, students from the women's hostel decided to protest. They held a 13-hour-long demonstration at BHU's Lanka Gate and the TOI report says that these students were joined by the hostel inmates of Mahila Mahavidyalaya and IIT-BHU.
The students demanded 24 X 7 security, making security personnel accountable for lapses, better lighting on roads leading to women's hostels, CCTV surveillance, inclusion of women security personnel and formation of a gender sensitisation committee.
Student wings of all political parties joined hands for the protest and demanded that the Vice-Chancellor meet them at the protest venue and engage in a dialogue in front of the media and with live-streaming on social media but that never happened.
All this while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was attending various events in different parts of the city.
BHU spokesperson Rajesh Kumar Singh said that the protest was politically motivated to hinder PM Modi's visit and that the girl who complained of sexual harassment had met the VC on Thursday.
PROTESTS ON SATURDAY
Things turned ugly when heavy police force was deployed in the BHU campus along with a CPMF contingent. The forces that camped in the campus was led by SP (city) Dinesh Singh, who said the CPMF personnel were camped there in view of PM Modi's visit.
A large number of girl students came out of the hostel as the CPMF personnel left the campus. Male students joined the protesting students on Friday and blocked the gate Vice-Chancellor's lodge. Police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the students.
Video: BHU girls speak about violent police action on their peaceful protest pic.twitter.com/ByVpVJnoRA- India Resists (@India_Resists) September 24, 2017
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Students from the boys' hostel allegedly pelted stones at the police and even used petrol bombs on Saturday evening.
Twitter is abuzz with images and videos from the Banaras Hindu University. Take a look here -
Tension prevails in BHU after lathicharge,stone pelting. Inefficient VC must be sacked for inept handling of the peaceful protest pic.twitter.com/Xs6PxEKMVJ- Kanchan Srivastava (@Ms_Aflatoon) September 23, 2017
What a nasty way to respond to a crisis. All they wanted was a safer #BHU pic.twitter.com/2xe1rIppHe- tushar banerjee (@TusharBanerjee) September 23, 2017
Cops remove protesting students from BHU's main gate. Some students injured in lathicharge. @TheQuint pic.twitter.com/BscA7Q4C8V- tushar banerjee (@TusharBanerjee) September 23, 2017
Politicians and activists are also condemning the police action on the female students saying the use of force was uncalled for since the protest was peaceful and more importantly, against sexual harassment.
Barbaric lathi charge on protesting girl students of BHU by police and the proctorial gang, many girls injured.Beti Bachao sarkar!- Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) September 23, 2017
BHU women students lathi charged for protesting sexual harassment, demanding GSCASH! Wah re Beti Bachao!- Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) September 23, 2017
Latest from BHU: police attacked girls inside their hostel as well.Will their MP (country's PM) protect them? https://t.co/OfKfUOo7ru- Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) September 23, 2017
While female students gt beaten up in #BHU BJP IT cell working hard to cover up things. #UnSafeBHU #???__???__ pic.twitter.com/3VttPvGYf0- Wish ??? (@_itswish) September 23, 2017
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The varsity is to remain shut till October 2 say reports.
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Does not look like gee-loc, as nose was moving until impact. Looks more like the Hunter crash in England except speed over the top on this one seemed very high/altitude too low, like the Blue Angel crash a ways back. It also looked like he/she held the nose down a bit too long before pulling, and increasing speed the whole way, and may have been "playing" the level off altitude until too late.
My understanding of the Tiffie is it is very capable of high AoA, and this plane was not at a very high AoA upon impact. Maybe a gee limiter in play? Our Viper could not pull 9 gees at the max AoA, and our max AoA was very low compared to the F-22 and F-35 and SU-27 and........
Over-the-water stuff is not easy! The Blues have had a few close calls, but they practice over-water stuff more than most.
Need a Tiffie pilot to opine.
Last edited by gums; 24th Sep 2017 at 18:29 . Reason: typo's
Norcross wrong for A.C.
George Norcross III, Democratic political boss of Camden County, recently commented on saving Camden and proposed doing the same for Atlantic City.
Camden is a tale of two cities, an improved waterfront, ravaged neighborhoods and ineffective water privatization. Camdens financial reality: perpetual bankruptcy. New Jersey supplies a large share of Camdens annual budget and the governors cuts to urban support forced the elimination of 400 city, police and firefighters and a tax rise. Camden is one of the poorest cities in America and has an appallingly high child poverty rate. During Norcrosss reign, these Camden facts never changed.
Any suggestion that Norcrosss new Camden County Metro Police force represents a so-called crime turnaround is at best a fantasy parading as a fact. When Norcross dismantled the city police force for an unproven risky county force, no other mayors among Camden Countys 27 towns joined it.
Norcrosss third false claim is that his championing of Renaissance Charter Schools in Camden is the stuff of miracles.
The state takeovers of Atlantic City and Camden are similar. Atlantic City residents saw a rise in property taxes and legal fees at $250 an hour to make Atlantic City great again. What Norcross did for Camden, he would surely do for Atlantic City benefit himself and further fuel his empire-building, milking-the-poor schemes.
Roy L. Jones
Absecon
Media attacking president
The liberal media is doing everything possible to destroy Donald Trumps presidency. Fake media is more accurately the twisted, distorted or outright lying media. Worse is what isnt reported.
When Attorney General Jeff Sessions wanted to seize funds from drug kingpins, it was portrayed as wanting to take more money from Americans. President Trump nullifies President Obamas ban on police having military gear and is portrayed as giving cops grenades. When Trump told the truth about both sides after the hateful conduct at Charlottesville, Va., the media went ballistic.
Worse is the lack of news, such as how the ACLU went to court, making sure the alt-left and alt-right were able to clash in the park at Charlottesville. Worse was the non-coverage of antifa attacks on the right in Berkeley, Calif., and the mayor restricting the police from protecting a peaceful conservative group, denying them their constitutional rights.
After eight years of handling the last administration with kid gloves, the print and electronic media are trying to destroy a presidency.
Tony Perry
Egg Harbor Township
Pageant message false
Regarding the Aug. 30 story announcing the winner of the Miss Black America pageant:
This pageant promotes separatism and racism. We did away with having an all-white Miss America years ago, but now we have Miss Black America as well as Little Miss Black America and Teen Miss Black America.
Just as the ranting against voter ID laws inadvertently suggests that blacks are not as capable as whites of acquiring proper identity cards and documents, the organizers of separate pageants for blacks are sending a false message that black women are not talented or pretty enough to become Miss America.
Fake news, identity politics, tearing down statues ... the country is loosing it. As a white male who dances to I Feel Like a Woman and senses that my ancestors were probably women of color, can I enter the competition next year?
Ettore Ed Cattaneo
Cape May
Maybe a nameless college
The kerfuffle over the removal of the bust of Richard Stockton, which seems to cause such emotional upset for the sensitive students, could be resolved easily by looking to the things they value. They grew up and their attitudes were forged by their icons such as Harry Potter.
So lets deal with this issue in a Potteresque way. Henceforth Stockton University should be known as He Who Must Not Be Named University. That should make them very happy.
Gene Doebley
Somers Point
The black rail has been a rare bird in New Jersey for decades, but now the shy, small bird of the high marshes is even more difficult to find.
Sea-level rise and historical human disturbances are destroying its nesting habitat, according to researchers who recently completed a field study of the species.
Damage to the high marsh means more flood damage for human neighborhoods, said David Mizrahi, vice president for research and monitoring for New Jersey Audubons Center for Research and Education in Cape May Court House.
Marshes are natural buffers to wave and storm action, Mizrahi said. Losing species like the black rail, and high marsh habitats or thousands of acres of marshland because of sea-level rise, is a sign of more difficult times ahead for us. You lose marshes, you lose communities.
The marsh at the end of Jakes Landing Road in North Dennis Township is a beautiful birding hot spot, owned by the state.
But it has lost much of its high marsh to land subsidence and sea level rise in recent years, said CMBO Director David LaPuma.
High marsh is characterized by the native grass spartina patens, or salt hay, he said. Low marsh is dominated by spartina alterniflora, which can handle a wetter environment.
Areas where black rail used to be heard regularly are now inundated, and black rails can no longer nest there, he said. There is just one area back by the tree line where black rails have been heard in the last few years.
But historically we used to hear them in front there, he said, sweeping his arm in an arc across the marsh.
New Jersey Audubon, the state Division of Fish and Wildlife and the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey recently completed a three-year field study of the black rail population that found evidence of the birds in only 7 percent of the 376 locations studied.
Audubon citizen scientists and Fish and Wildlife consultants went out at night, played audio of the birds calls and waited to hear a response, Mizrahi said.
A field study in 1988 by well-known birders Paul Kerlinger and Clay Sutton found them at 26 percent of 65 locations surveyed, according to N.J. Audubon. That was considered a poor showing, according to an article in N.J. Audubon magazine by Research Project Coordinator Mike Allen and Senior Research Scientist Nellie Tsipoura.
Since then, researchers estimate the black rail has declined by another 75 percent along the Atlantic Coast. The Eastern Black Rail Conservation and Management Working Group, led by The Center for Conservation Biology, says the black rail may be the most endangered bird species along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of North America.
Other species suffering from loss of high marsh to nest in include the saltmarsh sparrow and the state-endangered northern harrier, a bird of prey, Mizrahi said.
Black rails are often heard but not seen, even by the most experienced birders, he said.
They behave more like mice than birds, he said. They follow rodent trails through marshes. They are unique and enigmatic.
They are the size of sparrows, while the easier-to-see clapper rail is the size of a chicken, Mizrahi said.
Mizrahi said that historically poor coastal management from decades ago has caused much of the high marsh damage.
In mosquito control, a linear ditch technique was used for decades, said Mizrahi, in which grids of straight ditches were dug to get to and kill mosquito larvae. That brought tide water much deeper into high marsh zone.
Even the open marsh water management used today brings tide water deeper into marshes, he said.
Most black rails found in 2015-16 were in northern Cape May County and southern Atlantic County around the Great Egg Harbor and Mullica rivers, Mizrahi said.
Not so much in Cumberland County or on the Delaware Bayshore, where most detections were in 1989 (along with the Great Egg Harbor River), he said.
Mizrahi said studies are also being conducted in Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is doing a status assessment that might support a federal listing as endangered or threatened.
It is listed as threatened in New Jersey.
LONDON, Sept. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE: EW), the global leader in patient-focused innovations for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring, today announced key events for the company during the PCR London Valves 2017 course, as the meeting celebrates 15 years of transcatheter aortic valve replacement.
Among the scheduled events and data presentations are:
Introduction of the Edwards SAPIEN 3 Ultra System Edwards' CE Mark-pending system for transcatheter aortic valve replacement includes the new SAPIEN 3 Ultra valve, which adds a taller outer skirt to the proven SAPIEN 3 valve design. Initially incorporated with valve sizes 20, 23 and 26 mm, this new feature is designed to further improve the SAPIEN 3 valve's best-in-class outcomes. The valve is offered with the SAPIEN 3 Ultra delivery system, which introduces an "on balloon" design, removing the need for valve alignment during the procedure, and is compatible with the new 14F Axela expandable sheath. The Edwards SAPIEN 3 Ultra System is expected to receive CE Mark by the end of the year, and the company also has plans to introduce this system in the United States late in 2018.
Edwards' CE Mark-pending system for transcatheter aortic valve replacement includes the new SAPIEN 3 Ultra valve, which adds a taller outer skirt to the proven SAPIEN 3 valve design. Initially incorporated with valve sizes 20, 23 and 26 mm, this new feature is designed to further improve the SAPIEN 3 valve's best-in-class outcomes. The valve is offered with the SAPIEN 3 Ultra delivery system, which introduces an "on balloon" design, removing the need for valve alignment during the procedure, and is compatible with the new 14F Axela expandable sheath. The Edwards SAPIEN 3 Ultra System is expected to receive CE Mark by the end of the year, and the company also has plans to introduce this system in late in 2018. 6-month outcomes with the Edwards CENTERA Transcatheter Heart Valve System On Monday, Sept. 25 , in the Late-Breaking TAVI Trials session, new results of the self-expanding Edwards CENTERA valve will be discussed. Results presented earlier this year on the 30-day outcomes with the CENTERA valve demonstrated a very high survival rate, a low disabling stroke rate and a low percent permanent pacemaker rate. In addition, there was a low rate of moderate paravalvular leak among patients, and no severe paravalvular leak reported at 30 days after transcatheter valve replacement. The Edwards CENTERA valve is repositionable and retrievable and can be delivered through a low-profile 14-French delivery system that features a motorized handle that results in stable valve deployment. The valve is uniquely packaged fully pre-attached, which facilitates simple and rapid device preparation.
On , in the Late-Breaking TAVI Trials session, new results of the self-expanding Edwards CENTERA valve will be discussed. Results presented earlier this year on the 30-day outcomes with the CENTERA valve demonstrated a very high survival rate, a low disabling stroke rate and a low percent permanent pacemaker rate. In addition, there was a low rate of moderate paravalvular leak among patients, and no severe paravalvular leak reported at 30 days after transcatheter valve replacement. The Edwards CENTERA valve is repositionable and retrievable and can be delivered through a low-profile 14-French delivery system that features a motorized handle that results in stable valve deployment. The valve is uniquely packaged fully pre-attached, which facilitates simple and rapid device preparation. Symposium: Transcatheter heart valve therapies for all heart valves: from an innovation strategy to mainstream therapy This sponsored session on Sunday, Sept. 24 , is intended to review the latest clinical trials involving Edwards' aortic, mitral, tricuspid and pulmonary valve therapies.
This sponsored session on , is intended to review the latest clinical trials involving Edwards' aortic, mitral, tricuspid and pulmonary valve therapies. Symposium: Edwards Cardioband Transcatheter Valve Repair System: expanding options for patients This sponsored session on Tuesday, Sept. 26 , is focused on the current experience and clinical results of the Edwards Cardioband system and a discussion of Edwards' innovations for transcatheter valve therapies.
"As PCR London Valves celebrates 15 years of transcatheter aortic valve replacement, Edwards is proud to have led the development and evolution of TAVR as a preferred therapy for patients in need around the world," said Larry L. Wood, Edwards' corporate vice president, transcatheter heart valves.
The Edwards SAPIEN 3 Ultra System and CENTERA Transcatheter Heart Valve System are not currently available for commercial sale in any country.
About Edwards Lifesciences
Edwards Lifesciences, based in Irvine, Calif., is the global leader in patient-focused medical innovations for structural heart disease, as well as critical care and surgical monitoring. Driven by a passion to help patients, the company collaborates with the world's leading clinicians and researchers to address unmet healthcare needs, working to improve patient outcomes and enhance lives. For more information, visit www.Edwards.com and follow us on Twitter @EdwardsLifesci.
This news release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding expected future product approvals, dates of commercial availability and expected benefits and results. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by management of the company and are believed to be reasonable, though they are inherently uncertain and difficult to predict. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of the statement.
Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements based on a number of factors, including but not limited to, unexpected outcomes after longer term clinical experience with the product; or unanticipated quality, manufacturing or regulatory delays or issues. These factors are detailed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016. These filings, along with important safety information about our products, may be found at edwards.com.
Edwards, Edwards Lifesciences, the stylized E logo, Axela, Cardioband, CENTERA, Edwards SAPIEN, Edwards SAPIEN 3, Edwards SAPIEN 3 Ultra, SAPIEN, SAPIEN 3, and SAPIEN 3 Ultra are trademarks of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE Edwards Lifesciences Corporation
Related Links
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SAN DIEGO, Sept. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new study of patients at an urban cancer center points to a potentially serious problem that may limit the impact of clinical cancer careundiagnosed depression. Among the 40 percent of patients at the center who were diagnosed with depression, three in four had not previously been told they were depressed. Female patients and disabled patients also were more likely to be depressed, according to research presented today at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).
A web of physiological, psychological and socioeconomic factors associated with having and being treated for cancersuch as severe physical pain, side effects of medication, financial concerns, fears and anxieties about mortality and changes in lifestyle and life plansplace cancer patients at a higher risk of developing depression. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates that 15 to 25 percent of the general cancer patient population has depressiona rate two to three times that of the general population. Approximately seven percent of U.S. adults experience major depression, according to the National Institutes for Mental Health (NIMH).
"Depression prevalence continues to be high among cancer patients, especially those receiving treatment at an urban cancer center, as well as those who identify as female or are disabled by their disease. Alarmingly, most of these patients remain undiagnosed and untreated, indicating an important gap in cancer care and an opportunity to improve patient outcomes," said Jason Domogauer, PhD, lead author of the study and an MD/PhD candidate at Rutgers University New Jersey Medical School in Newark, New Jersey.
Findings in this study are based on an examination of 400 cancer patients who received treatment at the University Hospital Cancer Center in Newark, New Jersey, between 2013 and 2016. Researchers assessed depression using a minimum score of 16 on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale.
The average patient age was 55 years (range 20-86 years), and 53 percent of patients were female. The racial/ethnic breakdown of patients was 48 percent African-American, 29 percent non-Hispanic white and 16 percent Hispanic. Nearly equal numbers of patients reported being able to work (including those working full-time, part-time and unemployed) (49%) or being unable to work due to disability (51%). Most patients (85%) received radiation therapy as part of their cancer treatment.
Depression was diagnosed in 40 percent of the patients at this urban cancer center, which is roughly twice as large as the NCI estimate of 15 to 25 percent for the general cancer patient population. Moreover, depression was previously undiagnosed in three-fourths of these cases, meaning that roughly 30 percent of the patients at this cancer center suffered from undiagnosed and untreated depression.
Depression was more common among female patients (47%) than among male patients (32%) (odds ratio [OR] 1.9, p = 0.007) and among patients who were unable to work due to disability (48% vs. 33% of those able to work; OR 1.9, p = 0.005). NIMH statistics for the general U.S. adult population also point to a higher risk of depression for women and people with a disability, particularly among older adults. Depression prevalence did not differ significantly among racial/ethnic groups. Logistic regression was used to compare depression prevalence among the patient groups.
Looking specifically at patients who were previously not diagnosed with depression, the effects of being female or unable to work persisted. Among this subgroup, depression was more common among women (43% vs. 29% male; OR 1.9, p = 0.02) and disabled patients (43% vs. 31% able to work; OR 1.9, p = 0.03).
"Depression is widely recognized as an underdiagnosed disorder, particularly among older adults and cancer patients. Our findings point to a clear need for action including depression screening during initial and continuing patient visits, initiation of mental health treatments for identified patients and increased collaboration with mental health providers in cancer treatment centers. These efforts are particularly important for patients in urban centers, those who are female and those who are unable to work because of their disease," said Dr. Domogauer.
The abstract, "Study of total and undiagnosed depression in a cancer patient population at an urban cancer center," will be presented in detail during a news briefing and an oral abstract session at ASTRO's 59th Annual Meeting in San Diego (full details below). To schedule an interview with Dr. Domogauer and/or outside experts, contact ASTRO's media relations team on-site at the San Diego Convention Center, September 24 through 27, by phone at 703-286-1600 or by email at [email protected].
ATTRIBUTION TO THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF RADIATION ONCOLOGY (ASTRO) ANNUAL MEETING REQUESTED IN ALL COVERAGE.
This news release contains additional and/or updated information from the study author(s). Full original abstract and author disclosures available from [email protected] or at www.astro.org/annualmeeting.
Study Presentation Details
Scientific Session: Sunday, September 24 , 1:15 2:45 p.m. Pacific time , San Diego Convention Center, room 7A/B
, 1:15 , Convention Center, room 7A/B News Briefing: Tuesday, September 26 , 1:00 2:00 p.m. Pacific time , San Diego Convention Center, room 24C, webcast: http://www.bit.do/astro17-3
Resources on Cancer and Radiation Therapy
ABOUT ASTRO'S ANNUAL MEETING
ASTRO's 59th Annual Meeting, the world's largest scientific meeting in radiation oncology, will be held September 24-27, 2017, at the San Diego Convention Center. The 2017 Annual Meeting is expected to attract more than 11,000 attendees from across the globe, including oncologists from all disciplines and members of the entire radiation oncology team. More than 2,800 abstracts sharing results from clinical trials and other research studies will be presented in conjunction with educational sessions and keynote addresses that underscore the meeting's theme, "The Healing Art and Science of Radiation Oncology." Led by ASTRO President Brian Kavanagh, MD, MPH, FASTRO, the 2017 meeting will feature keynote addresses from Richard D. Zane, MD, FAAEM, Chief Innovation Officer for the University of Colorado Health System; Lucy Kalanithi, MD, FACP, widow of Paul Kalanithi, MD, the best-selling author of "When Breath Becomes Air," with Heather Wakelee, MD, Paul's oncologist; and Vinay K. Prasad, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of medicine at the Oregon Health & Science University. During the four-day meeting, more than 200 exhibitors will demonstrate cutting-edge technology and medical device innovations for radiation oncology. Visit us online for more information about ASTRO's 59th Annual Meeting or press opportunities at the meeting.
ABOUT ASTRO
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is the world's largest radiation oncology society, with more than 10,000 members who are physicians, nurses, biologists, physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and other health care professionals who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. The Society is dedicated to improving patient care through professional education and training, support for clinical practice and health policy standards, advancement of science and research, and advocacy. ASTRO publishes three medical journals, International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics (www.redjournal.org), Practical Radiation Oncology (www.practicalradonc.org) and Advances in Radiation Oncology (www.advancesradonc.org); developed and maintains an extensive patient website, RT Answers (www.rtanswers.org); and created the Radiation Oncology Institute (www.roinstitute.org), a nonprofit foundation to support research and education efforts around the world that enhance and confirm the critical role of radiation therapy in improving cancer treatment. To learn more about ASTRO, visit www.astro.org and follow us on our blog, Facebook and Twitter.
Contact: Liz Gardner
703-286-1600
[email protected]
Leah Kerkman Fogarty
703-839-7336
[email protected]
SOURCE American Society for Radiation Oncology
Related Links
http://www.astro.org
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Canberra, Sep 19 : Australia's smallest endangered species are at the greatest risk of extinction due to an imbalance in conservation funding and awareness campaigns, a study revealed on Tuesday.
The study's lead researcher Thomas Newsome from Deakin University said that conservation efforts were widely targeted at larger endangered species such as sharks and rhinos, meaning smaller, hard-to-findspecies such as the wallaby and the bilby were left at the greatest risk of extinction, reports Xinhua news agency.
"We've basically neglected a whole suite of species, and our research suggests that we should be putting just as much effort into the smaller species as the larger ones," Newsome said.
He said that widespread land clearing, aggressive farming practices and the introduction of foreign predators posed the greatest risk to some of Australia's most iconic species, and had contributed to Australia having the highest mammal extinction rate in the world.
"A lot of the freshwater fish in Australia have been ignored, and these species have highly restricted and specialized habitat requirements. Habitat loss can basically wipe out a single species in one blow," he said.
"For the mammals on the other hand, it's small wallabies and bilbies which are highly threatened. In fact, Australia has the highest extinction rate in the world for mammals.
"We've lost 30 mammals to extinction in the past 200 years - that's half the world's mammal extinctions in our own backyard."
Newsome said that in order to lower the extinction rate in Australia, more funding for smaller species was required, while a lessened human impact on the ecosystem was also urgently needed.
By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 24 (PTI) Industry chamber CII today sought extension of time by two months for filing of GST returns in view of difficulties being faced by businesses.
The GST Council has already extended the last date for filing final returns to October 10. CII has now requested for further extension to resolve certain system issues.
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In view of difficulties of online filing, the industry body suggested that "the due dates for filing GSTR-1, GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 should be deferred for another month or two".
The chamber also suggested that no penal action should be taken against the trade and industry by the revenue department in the initial six months of the GST launch.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was introduced on July 1.
It said that the GST Network (GSTN) system response should be enhanced to allow download, preview details, and take prints for reconciliation before submission.
The industry body also recommended that GSTR-3B should have provision for rounding off Input Tax Credit to nearest rupee.
"This will match output tax liability which is rounded off, and be accepted in the system," the chamber said.
For companies with turnover of over Rs 100 crore, the last date for filing GSTR-1 for July isOctober 3 and for the rest, it is October10.
Filing of GSTR-2 for July is to be done byOctober 31, and GSTR-3 byNovember 10.
Due dates for filing of returns for August are yet to be notified.
GSTR 3B is a simple return form introduced by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) for the month of July and August, following the roll out of the Goods and Services Tax from July 1. PTI NKD CS BAL ABM
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New Delhi, Sep 22 : Eight cancer survivors are raring to hit the dusty tracks in Punjab and Chandigarh to spread the message of preventing childhood cancer and collect 300,000 signatures to appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make paediatric cancer a child health priority.
Among the rallyists will be Muskaan, 17, a survivor of bone tumor from Zirakpur in Punjab, who is excited about zipping around Chandigarh's wide and smooth roads during the four-day caravan, starting Sep 24, that will cover 1,400 km across 18 districts of the state.
She had earlier led a team of volunteers to meet Punjab Governor V.S. Badnore and pinned a gold ribbon on his shirt to seek support for the cause.
"Governor sir was so excited when we told him about our plan to carry banners, posters and placards on vehicles to tell people that childhood cancer is curable," Muskaan said.
Bandnore has announced that the Chandigarh Administration and the Punjab Government would jointly launch a mass awareness campaign and raise awareness about cancer in children.
Cankids, an NGO that is a major player in the space, has previously held similar "Go Gold" childhood cancer awareness rallies in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. During their rally in Punjab, the Cankids survivor group will stage street plays, distribute publicity material and pamphlets related to early signs of cancer and the nearest centres for detection and treatment.
"For every child that dies of cancer, the world loses 71 years of life on an average," said Muskaan, adding that early detection is the key to a cure.
Cankids Director Poonam Bagai said: "September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month during which Punjab is going gold. Gold is the colour of childhood cancer. The gold ribbon honours children with cancer and their families and pledges support for childhood cancer to be a child health priority."
"During the rally, the survivors will drive across Punjab to sensitise people and focus on childhood cancers, create awareness and initiate a dialogue among stakeholders to ensure best treatment, care and support to kids in Punjab," said Bagai.
Along the rally's route, the campaigners will also hold awareness programmes at the state's nodal hospitals such as the PGI in Chandigarh, the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana, Advanced Cancer Centre in Bhatinda and Government Medical College in Patiala, she said.
It is estimated that Punjab accounts for 969 to the 1,543 new cases of childhood cancer each year (0-19 years) as per data from International Association of Cancer Registries (IARC), Geneva. In Union Territory Chandigarh, at least 35 new childhood cancer cases are reported each year, she added.
Bagai said that worldwide, more than 300,000 (0-19 years) children and adolescents are diagnosed annually with one of 16 forms of childhood cancers. Out of these, 40-50,000 (age 0-15 years) are diagnosed in India.
Cankids Society CEO Sonal Sharma said under the "Go Gold India" campaign, survivors are pinning gold ribbons and collecting 300,000 signatures/pledges -- one for each child diagnosed with cancer worldwide.
"Last year the Taj went Gold to speak for children with cancer and their families. This year, it will be the Golden Temple as our childhood cancer survivors advocate for childhood cancer to be a child health priority in India," she said.
In the run-up to the rally, Cankids worked closely with Punjab government's departments of health and family welfare and medical education and research to organise the First Paediatric Oncology Stakeholder Sensitisation Workshop for childhood cancer at Patiala.
Punjab Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh lent the government's support to the initiative, hoping it raises survival rates in the state and the rest of the country, where only 40 per cent of children with cancer survive against the global average of 95 per cent.
An MoU was also signed between the Punjab government and Cankids Society. Cankids, using its own funding, will now serve as a knowledge and support partner to the state government on matters relating to childhood cancers.
"The Punjab government has decided to identify children with cancer and offer them cashless treatment at 18 designated centres," said Bagai.
While global survival rates for childhood cancers are 70-95 per cent, in India, 50-70 per cent still die of the disease, primarily due to lack of awareness, stigma, poor information and access to care, inadequate treatment centres, lack of trained health professionals, quality drugs, high costs of treatment and lack of supportive care.
Kapil Chawla, a Hodgkin's survivor and CanKids advocacy officer, said: "The rally and awareness campaign is an effort to engage the Punjab government and civil society to open cancer awareness units for patients in the state's nodal hospitals."
Amita Mahajan, senior consultant at Apollo's paediatric oncology division who has been associated with Cankids for 13 years, said: "The advocacy campaign involving bureaucrats, doctors, patient groups and cancer survivors aims to make provide care to every child afflicted with this deadly disease."
Cankids Kidscan is a national society which works for children with cancer through 46 centres spread across the country. It helps bridge the gap between needy cancer patients and paediatric cancer units and extends financial support to 18,500 families.
Since November 2012, the society has been imparting education in hospitals through three cancer speciality homes and a CanKids CanShala for children.
(Anjali Madan can be contacted at anjalimadan79@gmail.com)
New Delhi, Sep 22 : Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Friday termed the mysterious death of a Manipuri youth in Uttar Pradesh as tragic, saying he is personally following up the matter with the state police to get the truth out.
"North East Boy Pravish Chanam case is very tragic and unfortunate. I am personally following up the matter with UP Police to get the truth out and bring justice," said Rijiju in his Facebook post.
Pravish Chanam went missing on September 8 from the India Exposition Mart in Greater Noida where he had gone to attend a concert with three friends. Though he remained untraced by friends and family, Noida police found his body and later cremated it allegedly without informing the family members.
The comments made by Rijiju, who is the face of the northeast in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet, come after several attempts by the family and friends of the victim to get appointment with Rijiju failed.
Alleging a series of lapses, Chanam's family said even a public notice was not issued to identify the body before it was cremated by police in a hurry.
"We want a thorough investigation by the CBI," Ravikanta Chanam, the victim's brother, told IANS.
The Manipur government has also asked one of its most senior IPS officer to visit Delhi and look into the matter.
Hundreds of youth from the northeast on Thursday staged a protest outside the Uttar Pradesh Bhawan here, demanding a probe by the state government into the mysterious death.
New Delhi, Sep 22 : The government is keen to make the gold market transactions more transparent, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, joint secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry said here on Friday.
"The government's objective is to make the gold industry transparent throughout the value chain. We still need to do a lot to reach that benchmark of transparency," Dwivedi said while addressing at the 10th International Gold Summit by Assocham.
He said the government is looking at how to provide easy availability of gold to the industry stakeholders, facilitate ease of doing business and give financial support.
Similarly, on the consumer front, it is looking at how to ensure quality and standard gold and fair, transparent price.
Despite various effort of the government to diversify Indians' interest from gold into other financial products, people still heavily invest in gold.
Somasundaram PR, Managing Director-India, WGC said: "We have been importing 900 tonnes of gold a year. India has stock of 24,000 tonnes of gold valued at $1 trillion. If we include gold available with banks, value goes up to $1trillion. Industry has gone through fast-paced changes and we cannot set the clock bank. We have to sit with the government to see what gold can do for India."
Former Reserve Bank of India Governor C. Rangarajan said despite various gold schemes introduced by the government, people still remain attracted towards the yellow metal.
"People often buy gold to hide unaccounted money. Gold transactions have to become transparent."
Welcoming government's decision to furnish PAN card for high value gold purchase, Rangarajan asserted that Goods and Services Tax of 3 per cent on gold is low and should not be objected.
"It is completely justified," he said.
He also said import duty of 10 per cent is not stark.
"These are justifiable. Some minor modifications can be made by the government. Perhaps import duty can be decreased and GST can be increased," he suggested.
Tehran, Sep 23 : Iran said on Saturday that it had successfully tested a new medium-range missile in defiance of warnings from the US that it was ready to ditch a landmark nuclear deal over the issue.
State-run Press TV broadcast a footage of the launch of the Khoramshahr missile, which was first displayed at a high-profile military parade on Friday with President Hassan Rouhani and senior military officials in attendance.
The ballistic missile is capable of carrying multiple warheads, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Division, told the media on Friday.
"The missile has become smaller in size (compared to other Iranian ballistic missiles) and more tactical, and it will be operational in the near future," Hajizadeh said without further elaboration.
On Friday, the Iranian armed forces commemorated the 1980-1988 war with Iraq by holding a parade in which Iran's most advanced military power and abilities were showcased.
Iran also displayed other home-made advanced missiles, including ballistic missiles, which are reported to have ranges of 1,300 km to 2,000 km.
The video also contained telemetry camera footage from four different angles which, according to its caption, showed the moment when the warhead of the missile was discharged.
The ballistic missile, which is Iran's third type of missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers along with the Qadr-F and Sejjil ballistic missiles, is capable of carrying multiple warheads.
Iran has repeatedly insisted that its military capabilities are solely aimed for defense purposes and they pose no threat to other countries. Tehran has also been assisting its allies, including Iraq and Syria, in their ongoing fight against terrorism.
Washington has on several occasions slapped new sanctions against Iran over its missile programme.
The US claims that Iran's missile tests and rocket launches violate UN Resolution 2231, which was adopted in July 2015 to endorse the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
Iran has strongly rejected the US allegations that it has violated the UN resolution, and insists that its missile tests and rocket launches are solely for defense purposes and not designed to carry nuclear warheads.
New Delhi : The BRICS Summit was largely an uneventful affair this year. Apart from the usual declarations for greater cooperation, hardly anything noteworthy took place. Only the naming of Pakistani terrorist groups by the forum as a cause for violence in the region led to some celebratory ripples, but that was it.
Amidst all the dull news emanating from Xiamen there was also a word about India's push for an early creation of the BRICS credit ratings agency that was proposed two years ago and formally agreed upon last year. However, India's effort was rendered fruitless as the declaration remained silent on the initiative.
BRICS nations, apart from China, have frequently complained about their low ratings by the world's top three credit rating agencies despite displaying better fundamentals than many Western economies. South Africa has been reduced to junk status while India has been awarded the lowest rating possible. China has not been enthusiastic about the idea since it already enjoys higher ratings than its peers. Even in the last few years when India has outperformed China in almost all possible aspects, the ratings have not kept pace.
India has not shied away from expressing its displeasure at this anomaly. This year's Economic Survey made it a point to highlight the "poor standards" of the rating agencies. The Survey pointed out that China was upgraded from A+ to AA- in 2010 and India has been kept stagnant at BBB- despite contrasting economic performances by the two countries. Since the economic crisis, China's credit to GDP ratio has ballooned (from 140 to over 200) while its growth has fallen. On the other hand, India's credit to GDP ratio has remained more or less constant (at 75) while growth has exceeded that of China.
During this period, India has also managed to moderate the government deficit from 8.3 percent in 2011-12 to 6.7 in 2016-17, boost its foreign exchange reserves to among the 10 highest in the world and narrow its current account deficit from 7.8 percent in 2012-13 to 1.4 in 2016-17. On the face of these trends, the credit ratings hardly make sense. The fault must lie in the methodology that is being used by these agencies as it clearly fails to reflect the real-world scenario.
The rating agencies repeatedly cite India's low per capita income and high fiscal deficit as grounds for its low ratings. However, per capita income is a slow-moving variable. Even if India grows at seven percent per annum, it'll take more than a decade for it to graduate from a lower-middle income country to an upper-middle income country. It makes little sense for any country with a sustained growth rate of 7 percent and strong fundamentals to have a stagnant low credit rating merely on account of its relatively low per capita income. With such a methodology, poor countries should just give up hope of seeing any improvement on their credit ratings for at least a decade or so. As for the deficits, the Indian government has stood strong on its unwavering commitment to a fiscal target over the last few years even at the cost of its growth rate, at times.
So, India's issue with the methodology followed by these agencies, which bias the ratings against poor economies, is legitimate. Incorrect ratings have an impact on the money flowing into the economy since a lot of institutional investors depend on such analysis. Nevertheless, a new credit rating agency backed by the BRICS might not be the answer to the problem and will be beset with its own set of problems.
First is the clear conflict of interest. It will be a tough task for the investors, especially in the West, to believe that the ratings from the "independent" agency are being awarded with no governmental pressure and are politically impartial. Moreover, it'll also have to overcome the conflict of interest problem that is already ailing the present agencies. The current issuer pay model is based on receiving payments from the institutions that are being rated. This makes agencies wary of downgrading their own clients. A model of charging investors will also not work for the agency given that it would be quite new to be trusted and ratings would be freely available anyway from established agencies of the West. So, escaping the problem of conflict of interest will be a major challenge.
Second, with the three major ratings agencies commanding more than 90 percent of the market, cracking it for a new entity will take a considerable amount of time and possibly never happen. The history of alternative credit agencies has not been promising. ARC Ratings established in 2013 and Global Credit Ratings established in 1995 are yet to start offering credit ratings.
A new credit rating agency by the BRICS will be a dud if these challenges are not addressed. The agency needs to be truly independent and based on a model which doesn't base revenue on delivering the results that its clients want. An agency established by governments to rate other governments is not the best idea for such requirements. It can never be free of political interference and even if it manages to be so, the issuer pay model would still be at work.
More competition is always the key in such cases. Therefore, a better approach to taking on the "big three" in the market would be to decide upon a methodology that reflects the credit strengths of financial entities much more accurately and popularising it by implementing it across the local credit rating agencies of the respective BRICS nations. The next step would be to adopt a model that eliminates any conflict of interest and is more performance-based. Finally, there will a need to build a rapport among investors so that they can trust these ratings over that of the "big three". All of this is easier said than done, but is surely bound to reap better results than establishing yet another agency that does nothing to improve the status quo.
(Amit Kapoor is chair, Institute for Competitiveness, India. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at amit.kapoor@competitiveness.in and tweets @kautiliya. Chirag Yadav is a researcher at Institute for Competitiveness, India.)
Washington, Sep 24 : US President Donald Trump has warned the new missile successfully tested by Iran on Friday may be able to reach Israel.
"Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea," Donald Trump wrote on his personal Twitter account on Saturday, Efe news reported.
"Not much of an agreement we have!" the President added in his tweet, apparently alluding to the agreement signed in 2015 between Tehran and six international powers, including the US, on the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme.
The President tweeted the brief message after Iranian media reported that Iran successfully tested its new ballistic missile, called Khorramshahr, with a range of 2,000 km, which was unveiled on Friday for the first time during a military parade in Tehran.
The missile was launched from an unknown location in Iran and a few hours after it was shown during the parade, the Iranian television channel Press TV released a video of the launch, on Saturday.
The Khorramshahr missile was paraded Friday, despite warnings from the US against Iran's weapons program, in the presence of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and senior military leaders.
This new arms build-up is taking place despite the fact that Washington has imposed several rounds of sanctions against Iranian entities and individuals linked to the Tehran missile program in recent months.
This week, Trump left his allies in the lurch by announcing that he has made a decision on his country's participation in the nuclear agreement signed with Iran in 2015, a pact that, according to his government, has clearly not met their expectations.
"I have already decided," he told reporters about his stance on the Iran agreement during one of his meetings in New York, where he was at the UN General Assembly, without divulging his decision.
In his address to the UN General Assembly on September 19, Trump declared that the nuclear agreement is "a disgrace" that his government could abandon, "if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program."
The nuclear agreement, signed in July 2015 by Iran and six major powers (US, Russia, China, France, UK and Germany), ended 12 years of conflict over the Islamic Republic's controversial nuclear programme.
Washington, Sep 24 : US President Donald Trump has warned that the new ballistic missile "successfully" tested by Iran may be able to reach Israel.
"Iran just test-fired a ballistic missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea." Trump tweeted on Saturday.
"Not much of an agreement we have!" the President added in his tweet, apparently alluding to the agreement signed in 2015 between Tehran and six international powers, including the US, on Iran's nuclear programme.
The president's remarks came after Iran tested its new ballistic missile, called Khorramshahr, with a range of 2,000 km, which was unveiled on Friday for the first time during a military parade in Tehran.
The missile was launched from an unknown location in Iran and a few hours after it was shown during the parade, the Iranian television channel Press TV released a video of the launch, on Saturday.
The Khorramshahr missile was paraded, despite warnings from the US against Iran's weapons program, in the presence of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and senior military leaders.
The nuclear agreement, signed in July 2015 by Iran and six major powers (US, Russia, China, France, UKm and Germany), ended 12 years of conflict over Tehran's controversial nuclear programme.
Ottawa, Sep 24 : Representatives from Mexico, Canada and the US began the third round of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) talks here.
Canadian chief negotiator Steve Verhuel on Saturday said he did not expect this round to see any new US proposal to increase American content requirements for autos, reports Xinhua news agency.
Rules of origin of autos will be "a subject for discussion but we're not expecting to see anything radically new at this point", he added.
Under NAFTA's current rules of origin, vehicles must have at least 62.5 per cent North American content to qualify for duty-free movement between Canada, the US and Mexico.
Concern has been mounting among trade experts that the year-end deadline for the NAFTA will be impossible to meet if negotiators did not start during this round to confront some of the most contentious issues, including the rules of origin of autos.
At the first round of negotiations in Washington last month, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer pronounced that the North American content requirement must be raised and a specific American content requirement must be added, along with a way to verify that content.
Last week, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross slammed the NAFTA for allowing outside countries to provide parts for vehicles that aren't covered by the content requirement.
Canada reportedly believes that resolving American concerns about the exodus of automotive jobs to low-wage Mexico is the key to staving off US President Donald Trump's threat to rip up NAFTA.
A total of seven rounds of discussions are planned for the NAFTA renegotiations, with the first two rounds being held in Washington and Mexico City.
New York, Sep 24 : Researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have developed a new tool to assess an individual's level of wisdom.
Called the San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-WISE), the scale is based upon a conceptualisation of wisdom as a trait with a neurobiological as well as psychosocial basis.
"There is evidence to suggest that the level of wisdom is dictated to a large degree by neurobiology, and that distinct regions and systems in the brain govern the identified components of wisdom," said Dilip Jeste, Director of UC San Diego Centre for Healthy Aging.
"There are measures now that assess a person's level of wisdom, but they do not incorporate these emerging neurobiological models of the trait.
"SD-WISE reflects the latest thinking. We believe it may be a useful tool in clinical practice, in addition to its value in bio-psycho-social research, especially investigations into the neurobiology of wisdom and possible interventions to enhance it," Jeste added.
For the study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, the researchers randomly recruited 524 residents of San Diego county, ages 25 to 104, from an on-going longitudinal investigation called the Successful Aging Evaluation (SAGE) study, focusing on physical, cognitive, and psychosocial aspects of successful ageing across the adult lifespan.
Participants were administered the SD-WISE along with two existing measures: the 12-item Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale and the 40-item Self-Assessed Wisdom Scale.
"Both scales are well-established and well-respected," said Michael Thomas, assistant professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine.
"They have demonstrated reliability and validity as scientific tools and were good measures against which to compare SD-WISE."
Studies suggest that wisdom may be defined by six specific domains and that these domains are linked to distinct regions of the brain, based upon neuroimaging and other scientific evidence.
For example, the domain of prosocial attitudes and behaviors, such as empathy, altruism and social cooperation, is facilitated by the prefrontal cortex (PFC), located in the front part of the brain and responsible to complex executive functions.
The other domains are social decision-making/pragmatic knowledge of life, emotional regulation, reflection/self-understanding, tolerance of diverse values, and ability to effectively deal with uncertainty and ambiguity in life.
All of these domains are associated with specific brain regions, including different parts of the PFC, the limbic system and amygdala, and specific neurotransmitters, especially monoamines.
The researchers found that SD-WISE successfully measured five of the six targeted domains, and made effective distinctions between individuals' differing degrees of wisdom.
The sixth domain -- social decision-making -- was partially covered as "social advising".
The results showed that SD-WISE is a reliable and valid scale, said Jeste.
Wisdom, as measured with SD-WISE, correlated with measures of psychological well-being. Importantly, the overall results supported the notion that wisdom is a specific entity with different components.
New Delhi, Sep 24 : Fifteen species of vultures in 128 countries, including four that are critically endangered in India, may get a fresh lease of life with a 12-year multi-species coordinated action plan to conserve African-Eurasian vultures set to take wing at a UN summit next month, conservationists say.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of species threatened with extinction has listed a majority of these vulture species as critically endangered, indicating a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
The Indian vultures that are set to get collaborative international protection under the Multi-Species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures are four critically endangered vulture species -- the red-headed, white-rumped, long-billed and slender-billed; two near threatened species -- bearded and Himalayan griffon; and one endangered -- the Egyptian vulture.
The cinereous vulture, a wintering migrant to India from Europe, is also facing the threat of extinction.
The other species are: white-headed, hooded, white-backed, cape griffon, RAppell's griffon, Eurasian griffon and lappet-faced vultures. Most of these species are found in Africa. While the Eurasian griffon vulture is found in Europe and Asia, the lappet-faced vulture is home to the Middle East.
Vulture are nature's garbage disposers, feeding on the carcasses of dead animals that are often infected with diseases such as anthrax, cholera, botulinum toxin and rabies that would be lethal to other scavengers.
More than 120 countries will gather in Philippine capital Manila for the 12th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals or CMS COP12 during October 23-28.
Proposals comprising the action plan, drafted after three-years of consultations, to conserve African-Eurasian vultures have been submitted for adoption at COP12, a UNEP spokesperson told IANS.
If adopted, the action plan, accessed by IANS, would mean programmes to protect the vultures across Africa, Asia and Europe from all of threats faced by them -- ranging from poisoning to hunting to collision with electricity cables to habitat degradation.
Studies attribute the reason for bringing the vultures to the brink of extinction in South Asia mainly to the extensive use of diclofenac in treating cattle. Vultures that consumed the carcasses of animals treated with diclofenac died with symptoms of kidney failure. The Indian government banned its veterinary use in 2006.
"Yes, certainly the ban on diclofenac in India has helped checking the dwindling number of vulture species. However, we must recognise and address the other threats that are affecting vulture populations," UNEP Programme Officer (Birds of Prey) Nick Williams told IANS in an email.
As part of the action plan, he said captive breeding for reintroduction of any species should really be seen as a last resort.
"Experience has shown that it can be effective for some species like the bearded vulture in the Alps. However, IUCN guidelines are very clear that the cause(s) of the original decline must be identified and properly addressed before releasing any captive-bred birds. Otherwise, the released birds will simply be lost to the same threats," Williams added.
Noting that threats to the vultures still prevail, SAVE (Saving Asia's Vultures from Extinction) Programme Manager Chris Bowden told IANS that the veterinary licence of two more drugs -- ketoprofen and aceclofenac -- should be withdrawn to save the remaining vultures in nature.
Bowden, who also monitors vulture breeding projects in India, favoured supporting the existing vulture conservation breeding programmes throughout South Asia. He is one of the compilers of the multi-species action plan to conserve vultures.
Williams said the ban on diclofenac in India certainly reduced its prevalence in many areas "but more work is to be done".
The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals aims to conserve terrestrial, aquatic and avian migratory species throughout their range. It is an intergovernmental treaty with 124 Parties to the Convention, including the European Union.
"The particularly high number of animals proposed for protection under the Convention is a worrying sign of the decline of international wildlife. Urgent action is needed to ensure the survival of these species," an official statement quoting Bradnee Chambers, the convention's Executive Secretary, said.
(Vishal Gulati is an Internews' Earth Journalism Network Biodiversity Fellow. He can be reached at vishal.g@ians.in)
After a court-ordered survey, the panel found that only two per cent vehicles failed the pollution tests and felt that this assessment did not present an accurate picture.
By Harish V Nair: Rules for issuing vehicle pollution-check certificates and emission tests will become far more stringent in the Capital if a Supreme Court-mandated panel has its way.
In a report submitted to the SC, the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, or EPCA, has said that vehicle pollution-checking centres in Delhi and NCR are only weakening the fight against toxic air. After a court-ordered survey, the panel found that only two per cent vehicles failed the tests and felt that this assessment did not present an accurate picture. "Corruption and poor testing procedures contribute towards poor failure rate", the agency said.
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A May 2014 report by the WHO found Delhi the most polluted city in the world. A study by the EPCA the same year said air pollution was the fifth-biggest killer in India after high blood pressure, indoor air pollution from cooking fuels, tobacco smoking and poor nutrition. It said residents of Delhi and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh have more reasons to worry as the two are among five critically polluted cities.
The top court had asked the EPCA to conduct surprise checks at all the 962 pollution checking units and report back. "PUC (Pollution Under Control) tests are vulnerable to fraud and corruption. Often these tests are not done properly and fake software is used. The sensor stick used for testing the pollution concentration in tailpipe is not properly inserted; or certain parameters like temperature testing at the time of smoke density tests in diesel vehicles are manipulated to pass the tests. It has also been reported that people obtain PUC certificates even without conducting the tests," Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of Centre for Science and Environment, which is part of the EPCA, told Mail Today.
The Capital's air is a noxious combination of exhaust, dust, smoke from wood and dung-fired stoves, burning leaves and industrial output. The EPCA survey came after an inspection conducted by the central government revealed that at least a third of the existing 962 outlets in the Capital are involved in irregularities like fudging the emission report and giving clearance certificates to polluting vehicles for a price.
The Centre told the Supreme Court that after a study carried out between July and November 2016, show-cause notices have been issued to some 174 for irregularities, licenses of 14 have been cancelled, licenses of 75 have been suspended and warning notices issued to 78 such centres. Recommending stringent pollution checking norms, especially for diesel vehicles, the EPCA says the present technique is "archaic and very ineffective".
"The visible smoke that is currently tested in diesel vehicles does not monitor tiny particles. Very high emissions of tiny particles are possible from modern diesel engines that are not visible and cannot be captured through smoke density tests. While tightening norms for pre-BSIV vehicles it is also important to improve the test procedures for smoke density tests," it said. There is no way to measure particulate matter directly under the present PUC programme, the panel added.
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Islamabad, Sep 24 : Six children were killed when a fire engulfed a house in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday, police said.
Police officials, citing initial investigations, said that the fire erupted due to a short-circuit, Geo News reported.
As a result, five sisters and their brother were burnt to death while they were asleep and the house was completely charred.
New Delhi : September 23 marked the 87th anniversary of the National Day of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This auspicious occasion not just celebrates the historic unification of the Kingdom but also invokes within every Saudi citizen a sense of immense pride in its historical and cultural legacy.
Our journey on the path of progress has continued over the last nine decades, making great strides in every domain. Our country is amongst the 20 largest economies in the world and we aim to improve our ranking by 2030. Currently, Saudi Arabia ranks an impressive 38 on the United Nations Development Program's (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI). We are further strengthening our investments efficiently to make our health, education, transportation and social services infrastructures even more robust and foster more progress and growth. To enable this growth and to build a thriving country, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chalked out Vision 2030 around three fundamental themes -- a vibrant society, a thriving economy and an ambitious nation. We are in relentless pursuit of the vision to make our country a pioneering and successful global model of excellence on all fronts.
We are transforming our education system to equip students with multi-faceted knowledge and values that help their individual characters emerge and flourish. To demonstrate our commitment to education, our country sanctioned 200 billion riyals in 2016 for the development and expansion of education -- the highest annual allocation after healthcare. By 2030, we aim to have at least five Saudi universities among the top 200 universities in international rankings.
We are diversifying and unleashing the capabilities of promising sectors to create the new pillars of the Saudi economy. Our National Renewable Energy Program is all set to increase the share of renewables in the power mix from almost 0 to 4 per cent by generating 9.5 GW by 2023. Our endeavor includes privatising some state-owned assets and government services; developing tourism by creating attractions of the highest international standards; investing in a digital economy; incentivising the exploration of the Kingdom's mineral resources; and doubling our gas production.
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud views the citizens of the Kingdom as its most important asset. Vision 2030 strives to create a prosperous society wherein people enjoy a good life in a beautiful environment. The Red Sea luxury resorts project will be a milestone in this direction. Spread across 50 natural islands along 200 km of western coastline of Saudi Arabia, the project will place the Kingdom on the international tourism map. Apart from historical and cultural excursions, both on land and in the sea, it will offer opportunities for diving, parachuting, rock climbing, etc. The project is estimated to host one million visitors per annum by 2035, adding SAR 15 billion (Rs 25,905 crore) per annum to the Kingdom's GDP. The newly mapped area will be run at par with international standards, including ecological best practices.
As the cradle of Islam, the Kingdom takes great pride in serving the Two Holy Mosques. This year more than two million pilgrims performed Haj. The number of Umrah visitors tripled to eight million over the last decade. We are working with the strategic objective of providing the opportunity for the largest number of Muslims possible to perform Haj and Umrah. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud launched in 2015 the third phase of expansion of the Grand Mosque which will cover 1.47 million square meters, including 78 new gates, six new floors for praying, 680 new escalators, 24 elevators for people with special needs.
Several transit projects have been sanctioned to elevate the existing facilities. The airports are being modernised and their capacities are being augmented. The Makkah Metro project, has been conceived to complement the rail services to transport visitors safely to the Holy Sites. Saudi Railways Commission recently completed the maiden test run of the Haramain high-speed rail line from Jeddah to Madinah. The 450-km network connecting the two holy cities is slated to attain speeds of up to 360 kmph, reducing the travel time between the two to less than two hours.
Political and economic stability in the Middle East and around the world is one of Saudi Arabia's greatest priorities. My country has been recognised for its efforts over the years to maintain peace and stability in the region. From the King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud plan of 1981 and King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud initiative of 2002, the Taif agreement of 1989 that ended the Lebanese civil war, to the 2007 Makkah agreement of reconciliation between the factions of Fatah and Hamas -- we have primarily worked on mediation and conciliation to resolve issues and work towards the peace, stability, non-interference and prosperity of the region.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has demonstrated its abiding belief in spreading goodwill and compassion beyond its borders by being at the forefront of the international community in terms of share of gross domestic product (GDP) earmarked for humanitarian aid. The King Salman Centre for Humanitarian Aid and Relief (KSRelief), since it was established in 2015, has provided humanitarian and development aid to more than 37 countries in four continents, implementing 218 projects in areas of food security, housing and shelter, preventative health care and education. Just recently and through the Center, the Kingdom donated $33.7 million to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to combat cholera in Yemen, followed by a donation of $33 million to United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) at the end of July 2017.
It has been a great honour for me to serve as the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the Republic of India. India is a strategic partner in our journey of progress. We share deep-rooted bilateral ties that have been nourished through growing economic partnership, multi-faceted cooperation and vibrant people to people connection. The historical ties of friendship between the two countries will continue to grow and thrive through partnership and cooperation.
(The author is Saudi Ambassador to India)
New Delhi, Sep 24 : Filmmaker Nikkhil Advani on Sunday posed in the Rashtrapati Bhavan complex, which he visited to conduct a recce for his new film.
"You can't help but be awed by the scale and the decorum of government. Rashtrapati Bhavan, recce, Delhi," Advani tweeted on Sunday with a photograph of himself in casuals and a pair of shades.
He didn't mention the details of the project that he is conducting a recce for. According to media reports that emerged earlier this month, Advani is set to explore a story around the Batla House encounter, which followed the 2008 serial blasts in Delhi. Two suspected militants were killed in the encounter.
The director is credited with titles like "Kal Ho Naa Ho", "Delhi Safari" and "D-Day". He also helmed television show "P.O.W.- Bandi Yuddh Ke" -- a story on prisoners of war.
His last production was "Lucknow Central", a prison escape movie with an ensemble cast.
New Delhi, Sep 24 : The two-day BJP National Executive meet began on Sunday, with party chief Amit Shah inaugurating a meeting of party office-bearers at the NDMC Convention Centre here.
The Indian economy's slowing growth as well as the next round of assembly polls will top the agenda of the meeting.
The main meeting will be held on Monday at the Talkatora Stadium. According to party leaders, 15 BJP Chief Ministers, six Deputy Chief Ministers, 1,400 MLAs, 85 members of legislative councils, 280 ministers and 336 MPs would attend.
Shah iaugurated the office-bearers' meeting to finalise the agenda and resolutions likely to be passed at the Monday meet.
Besides party's central office-bearers, all state Bharatiya Janata Party Presidents and General Secretaries (Organisation) attended Sunday's meeting.
The government is concerned over latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been talking of a package to revive economic growth after the November 8 demonetisation slowed it down.
Shah will deliver the inaugural address on Monday while Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the concluding session.
Modi is likely to address the concerns over the state of the Indian economy and is all set to list the achievements of his government in the last three years.
Usually, the National Executive members alone attend the meeting but this time the BJP is holding an extended meeting, with invites going to all elected representatives of the party. Besides, state Presidents, state General Secretaries and several other party functionaries will also attend.
A political and an economic resolution is set to be passed by the National Executive. Sources in the BJP said party Vice President Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and General Secretary Ram Madhav have been assigned to prepare the resolutions.
The sources said the economic resolution is likely to mention demonetisation as a "bold decision to curb the menace of corruption" and the passage of Goods and Services Tax as another feather in the Modi cap.
During the meeting, Shah will take stock of organisational works taken up in Bhubaneswar in the last National Executive meet.
To mark the birth centenary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh idiologue Deendayal Upadhyaya, the BJP had asked all its state units to hold programmes. Shah will also take stock of the campaign.
Posters put up here also have pictures of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani.
Ranchi, Sep 24 : Three Maoist guerrillas were killed in a gun battle with security forces in Jharkhand's Simdega district on Sunday, police said.
An AK-47 assault rifle, a carbine and a machine gun along with a huge cache of explosives were seized after the fighting at Bano between the People's Liberation Front of India cadres and security personnel.
A search operation was launched to nab the Maoists who escaped, police siad.
Maoist guerrillas are active in 18 of the 24 districts of the state.
Srinagar, Sep 24 : A major terror attack was averted after three Pakistani 'fidayeen' were shot dead in a gunfight in a forested area near the border town of Uri in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district, police said.
"All three Pakistani fidayeen terrorists were killed in Uri area of Baramulla district," said a police officer said.
Director General of Police S.P. Vaid told reporters here that the slain militants had planned a major suicide strike and their elimination has averted a major attack.
Security forces had launched an operation in Kaghi forest area of Uri tehsil on Sunday morning following specific information about a group of heavily-armed militants hiding there.
As the security forces tightened cordon around the area, the hiding militants opened fire at the security forces triggering a gunfight.
Police, however, have not confirmed whether the slain militants had recently infiltrated into the Valley from Pakistan-administered Kashmir or had been operating here for some time.
New Delhi, Sep 24 : German renewable energy technology solutions provider Heraeus Photovoltaics on Sunday announced it has opened an India office here and will bring in dedicated staff at its Engineering and Technology Centre in Singapore to help focus on the Indian solar cells market.
"With the establishment of dedicated local sales team in India, Heraeus will intensify its customer relationship and provide secure supply chain to its customers," the company said in a release here.
"Heraeus will also establish dedicated resources in its engineering and technology centre in Singapore, to better tailor and further speed up customisation of silver pastes for Indian cell manufacturers," it said.
"Furthermore, Heraeus will offer its industry recognised cell optimisation consulting to its Indian customers," it added.
Heraeus, specialists in the field of thick film technology for photovoltaics, said it offers products for all solar cell architectures and photovoltaic technologies.
"Energy production from photovoltaic is already the cheapest way to produce electricity in the world and the prices will continue to decrease. Photovoltaics thus offers great opportunities for India to help in solving the very strong growth in energy demand," Heraeus Photovoltaics President Andreas Liebheit said in the statement.
New Delhi, Sep 24 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged people to "feel the fragrance of India's diversity" by travelling within the country and said making efforts to learn culture, attire and eating habits of different states.
Addressing his monthly radio programme "Mann ki Baat", which has completed three years on Sunday, Modi said it reflects people's minds and expressions. He also urged people to take up khadi, lauded a Kashmir youth single-handedly carrying on a cleanliness campaign in his state, and two army widows, who have themselves got commissioned into the service.
He also expressed satisfaction at the momentum the "Swachh Bharat" campaign had attained.
Stressing it was a matter of concern when people visit foreign countries and get impressed by "mere superficial glitter" but often do not know enough of the country's enormous diversity, Modi said that there will be value addition in tourism only when people travel not merely as visitors but also as students.
He added the experience he had gained by visiting 500 districts and staying in about 450 of them was coming handy in his role as Prime Minister.
"We should feel India's diversity, touch it, feel its fragrance...Impressed by mere superficial glitter we have started enjoying touring foreign countries only. You travel around the world, I have no issues but have a look at your own country too... Our country is full of such myriad diversities."
Citing examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Lokmanya Tilak, Swami Vivekanand and former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Modi said they had tried to live India within themselves.
"Can we make an effort as a student to learn, understand and try to live as per the traditions, culture, beliefs of different states? There will be a value addition in tourism only when we travel not only as a visitor but also like a student and make efforts to assimilate, understand and adapt."
Modi also asked people to send him their choices of top seven tourism destinations in their states and said these will be scrutinised to make a list which will be popularised. He also urged people to share information about what they see as the best tourism destinations in the country, saying they can act as a major catalyst in promoting tourism by sharing experiences, photographs with the the hashtag 'Incredible India' and also writing good travelogues.
He said unity in diversity is not a mere slogan but "a storehouse of enormous energy" and dream of "Ek Bharat - Shreshtha Bharat" was inherent in this.
The Prime Minister urged people to take forward the Khadi movement, saying it was a means to help the poor. "We should follow the spirit of helping the poor to be able to light a Diwali lamp," he said.
He congratulated B18-year-old Bilal Dar, who has been working towards cleanliness for the past about five years, and removes plastic, polythene, used bottles and other kinds of waste from Wular Lake. Modi praised Srinagar Municipal Corporation for appointing him its brand ambassador.
He lauded Lt. Nidhi Dubey and Lt. Swati Mahadik, who earlier this month joined Indian Army as officers, after their husbands died while on duty, describing them as two "extraordinary brave" women officers who evoked a new inspiration among millions of countrymen.
Terming 'Mann ki Baat' "a journey of our countrymen, their emotions and their feelings," he saidthat he had kept his radio programme away from political hues.
Modi said he also experienced through "Mann ki Baat" that even a tiny incident can launch a massive campaign.
"The nation is always ready to move in the right direction. Every citizen of the country wants to do something for the benefit of others, for social good, for the country's progress. This is the most valuable capital and enormous strength for any country," he said.
Referring to cleanliness campaign, Modi said it is moving from "Sankalp" (resolve) to "Siddhi" (attainment) and said everyone has got connected. He said now people resist if someone litters in public place.
Digital Dealer 23
Another great conference has been put into the books for this years Digital Dealer 23 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hundreds of dealers and vendors all arrived at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino to both learn and share the latest trends, strategies, and innovations in the automotive industry. iFrog Digital Marketing and Preston Automotive Group were among the few to be able to speak during the three-day conference.
Dave Wilson of both Preston and iFrog spoke during the Keynote Panel of Tuesday, September 19th. This panel captivated an audience to discuss expectations and relationships between both dealership and vendor. Hosted by Frank Lopes, topics were discussed of how most vendor and dealership relationships existed. Considered as Its Complicated Dave, along two other vendor and dealer panelist, showed the way to cultivating the best relationship between the two parties. Viewers were able to take away from the session on how to work together and boast a beneficial partnership between two companies.
Before the Keynote Panel, Digital Dealer 23, Adesa and TradeRev auctioned off a 2018 Harley Davidson Iron 833. Benefiting an amazing cause, the Make-A-Wish Foundation Southern Nevada, David Wilson Jr. of Preston Automotive Group stepped up to win the auction for the motorcycle. Helping local communities and charities has long been the foundation to their company and family culture. I am happy to have had the opportunity to help out a great local cause for the Make-A-Wish Foundation Southern Nevada. says David.
The following day, Brent Durham of iFrog Digital Marketing and David Wilson Jr. spoke early in the morning on the topic, Breaking into the Top 100 Dealer List. As a dealership anomaly, Preston Ford sits in a town of 800 people but continues to finish in the Top 100 Ford Dealers in the Nation year after year. Selling 500+ new Ford units in the month of December, the Top 100 Sales Drive is among one of the most recognized dealership sales events in the United States. Together, both Brent and David shared the secrets of success with an audience of dealer principals, general managers and internet directors.
iFrog Digital Marketing and Preston Automotive Group would like to thank Digital Dealer for having the opportunity to speak at the digital automotive conference. For any questions or if you would like to reach out to iFrog Digital Marketing please contact Dave Wilson or John Skalstad. For a copy of the Breaking into the Top 100 Dealers List presentation please email brent(at)ifrog(dot)com.
Dave Wilson
CEO
iFrog Digital Marketing
Dave(at)iFrog(dot)com
410.829.7171
John Skalstad
National Sales Director
iFrog Digital Marketing
John(at)iFrog(dot)com
443.618.0288
About iFrog Digital Marketing:
iFrog Digital Marketing is an automotive exclusive digital advertising marketing agency that has been founded upon the Preston Automotive Group. They specialize in implementing strategies and tactics for automotive dealership to expand the reach online and capture more sales and better brand presence. Among their services and capabilities are Digital Marketing Strategies & Consulting, Social Media Marketing, SEO, Paid Search, Display Advertising, Online Video Advertising, Graphic Design, Mobile Advertising, Reputation Management and Lead Management. For more information visit http://www.iFrog.com
About Preston Automotive Group
Preston Automotive Group serves the Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania areas with Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Genesis, Hyundai, Jeep, Lincoln, Mazda, Nissan, and Ram Truck brands. The auto group carries the largest selection of new and used cars and trucks. Additionally, the dealership services all makes and models, both imported and domestic cars with ASE certified and factory trained technicians. To further serve your automotive needs the Preston Automotive Group is also home to three auto body shops conveniently located around Delmarva in Preston, Cambridge, and Snow Hill, Maryland. For more information visit http://www.prestonmotor.com
Cinamaker founder and CEO Benjamin Nowak has traveled to Beijing for this years Real-Time Web Solutions Conference (RTC). At the conference, Nowak lectured on the subject of Next-Generation Micro Channel Video Production. More importantly, perhaps, Nowak announced Cinamakers partnership with Agora.io, a leader in global real-time cloud-based communication headquartered in China.
The Agora Cinamaker Studio is the mobile creators studio. Using just a tablet and up to six synchronized smartphones or other cameras, the Agora Cinamaker Studio allows creators to livestream and record multi-angle videos with real-time switching, a newsroom style graphics engine, and audio-mixing along with many other features. Cinamaker has one U.S. patent and its early proof-of-concept app won an award at the SXSW ReleaseIt competition in 2016. The company has already licensed its mobile based platform to Panasonics broadcast camera division.
Today, Agora.io and Cinamaker have officially begun their partnership. The crowd at RTC was the first to hear Nowaks announcement of the collaboration as well as the first to see a live demonstration of the new Agora Cinamaker Studio. The initial integrated product features include: the ability to sync up to six local or remote cameras including both Cinamaker capture assistants and Agora remote capture assistants; Simultaneous streaming to Agora.io plus additional RTMP destinations; Switching, audio mixing, and graphics engine; And the ability to receive an audience stream simultaneously with the camera stream preview on any Agora assistant devices.
With this mobile, app-based production studio, creators can expect professional studio production capabilities and advanced production workflows that enable faster content creation with a greater potential for creator and audience interaction.
Cinamakers SVP and head of Corporate Development, Gary Baker, commented "We are excited to be working with Agora.io to blend Cinamaker's native-mobile video tools into Agora's platform, which is destined to enhance their user's video production, distribution and best of all audience engagement. We are thrilled to be partnering with Tony Wang and the Agora.io team and one of the world's largest real-time video platforms."
More about Cinamaker
Cinamaker is the only mobile-native, professional-grade solution for multi-camera HD live streaming and recording, offering the lowest cost of entry and the easiest setup and operation of any comparable solution. By integrating tablet computers, smartphones, and cameras over a wireless network, Cinamaker enables super-fast video production workflows from shooting to sharing, and will be made even faster with Agora.io as its primary vendor for global, real-time communications.
Cinamaker believes in creating powerful, professional tools for video production and making them accessible and affordable for everyone. Read more at http://www.cinamaker.net.
Media inquiries can be directed to kate(at)cinamaker.com or 415.484.3361.
By Chayyanika Nigam: A kiosk monitored by police officers to allay parental concerns over the safety of their kids on school campuses will be set up by the Delhi police soon. Orders have also been issued to all Station House Officers (SHOs) to attend parent-teacher meetings in their respective jurisdictions, a senior police official told Mail Today.
"Both male and female police officers will be present to respond to queries on safety and security from parents and students and discuss steps on how to improve it," said the officer. Meanwhile, Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik has asked district police chiefs to ensure that schools in their areas have adequate security measures in place. The Delhi Police has also promised 'regular' meeting between school administration and police authorities to discuss the security of children. A set of guidelines will be issued to schools across the Capital in this regard soon, said Dependra Pathak, chief spokesperson, Delhi police.
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Pathak said that schools have been asked to increase the number of CCTVs installed in their premises. "Keeping in mind the security of children, schools will be asked to increase the number of security guards," he said.
Another senior official said that directions will be issued to ensure that police verification is done for school drivers, cleaners and other staff . The movement of school staff will be monitored as well. "Schools will be advised to hire staff from authorised agencies," said Pathak. Police officials in Noida and Gurugram have also announced regular security audits.
The audits would find out if the children are left unattended at any particular time on campus and monitor areas where staff and children have access to, said a senior police official. "Children spend a large part of their day in schools. Their safety during this time is exceedingly important," said a senior official with Haryana police. "For every case reported, there are several others that go unreported. A lot of accidents can be prevented by taking a little extra care," said the officer. Police in Gurugram have issued a 41-page 'safety guidelines for schools' in the region.
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The NLR Score and Mesothelioma Prognosis The elevated NLR score could be a potential prognostication factor for malignant pleural mesothelioma patients...
A new meta-analysis conducted by researchers at Chinas Sichuan University suggests that NLR, a measure of subclinical inflammation, could be a useful prognostic indicator for malignant pleural mesothelioma. Surviving Mesothelioma has the full story. Click here to read it now.
In an analysis including more than 1500 mesothelioma patients in 11 studies, researchers found that having a higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio was consistently linked to worse odds of survival.
These findings indicate the elevated NLR score could be a potential prognostication factor for malignant pleural mesothelioma patients and might be associated with histology as an efficient clinical index to stratify patients, writes lead researcher Nan Chin of the West China School of Medicine.
NLR is already used to categorize patients with heart failure and certain types of cancer. Several other studies have also suggested its value as a mesothelioma prognostic tool.
Prognosis is difficult with pleural mesothelioma, where some patients respond to standard therapies, but most do not, says Alex Strauss, Managing Editor for Surviving Mesothelioma. Having a reliable but simple test that can be performed with just a blood draw could go a long way toward helping mesothelioma patients and their doctors make better decisions about their care.
All of the details of the new NLR study, including a more in-depth explanation of neutrophils and lymphocytes, can be found in Inflammation Marker May Predict Mesothelioma Prognosis, now available on the Surviving Mesothelioma website.
Chin, N, et al, Prognostic Significance of Neutrophils to Lymphocytes Ratio in Patients with Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: A Meta-Analysis, February 2017, Oncotarget, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314251751
For more than a decade, Surviving Mesothelioma has brought readers the most important and ground-breaking news on the causes, diagnosis and treatment of mesothelioma. All Surviving Mesothelioma news is gathered and reported directly from the peer-reviewed medical literature. Written for patients and their loved ones, Surviving Mesothelioma news helps families make more informed decisions.
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Three terrorists, including the one who was killed, were planning to strike an army base in a similar manner, Jammu and Kashmir DGP SP Vaid told India Today. They were spotted just in time, he said.
By Ashraf Wani: Security forces have killed a terrorist in an ongoing encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri, where a deadly attack on an army base last year led to India's cross-border surgical strikes.
In fact, three terrorists, including the one who was killed, were planning to strike an army base in a similar manner, Jammu and Kashmir DGP SP Vaid told India Today. They were spotted just in time, he said.
Latest #Visuals from Uri where an encounter between security forces and terrorists is underway. (Visuals deferred by unspecified time) pic.twitter.com/PpyCT455UF- ANI (@ANI) September 24, 2017
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The top cop revealed that troops were on high alert after being tipped off about a plot to attack army bases, and called the operation a major success for security forces
The other two terrorists "will also be eliminated," Vaid promised.
As many as 19 soldiers were martyred after a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) fidayeen group attacked the administrative station of the Indian Army's 12 Brigade on September 18 last year.
VIDEO: Sushma Swaraj, India's external affairs minister, excoriated Pakistan for its covert support of terrorism in a hard-hitting speech at the UN General Assembly on Saturday.
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It became urgent for her to undergo a surgery after developing issues relating to her heart after conceiving a daughter.
Her condition lasted over ten years after delivering her child until about three months ago when she received a heart from the family of a man who got killed in a road accident.
Fidel, a 46-year-old artist was seen in a clip as she performed burial rites in favour of her old heart. She was seen trembling as she made to place the organ in a hole she dug in the ground.
The woman who spoke in an interview with Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper describe the moment when she buried the heart as one of great fear.
ALSO READ: German nurse suspected of killing at least 84 patients
Everything is authentic in the film, and I trembled when I put the heart into the ground. I believe that, additionally, the excitement and fear of attempting to really touch the organ and pick it up all those things caused the trembling. It was very scary.
Owusu Ali pleaded guilty to the charges pressed against him by the prosecution.
READ MORE: Court clerk suspended for dressing provocatively
His Honour Alexander Greyham sentenced Ali to 15 years imprisonment when he presided over the case at the Techiman Circuit Court on Friday.
According to the prosecutor, Ali was arrested on September 22 on the farm of the complainant.
After a search on the sack he was carrying was done, it was discovered that he had stolen 20 tubers of the yam from the farm of the complainant.
READ MORE: ITLOS maritime boundary case ruled in favour of Ghana
Attorney General Gloria Akufo and Adama Toungara, a special adviser to the Ivorian President, in the joint statement reiterated their mutual commitment to abide by the terms of the judgement.
Cote dIvoire and Ghana seize the opportunity to reiterate the mutual commitment of the two countries to abide by the terms of this decision from the Special Chamber, and to fully collaborate for its implementation. Cote dIvoire and Ghana accept the decision, in accordance with the Statute of ITLOS.
The two countries also affirmed their strong will to work together to strengthen and intensify their brotherly relationships of cooperation and good neighbourliness.
READ MORE: How the ITLOS ruled in favour of Ghana
Speaking on Accra-based Kasapa FM, Vivian Donkor, mother of the deceased, said they are not leaving the matter lying.
READ MORE: Achimota school student sentenced for murder
She said: How can our hurtful feelings be assuaged when someone who has killed our daughter is sentenced to only three years in a correctional home.
Were very angry over the jail term, the family is meeting soon to see what next step we can take. Were not leaving this matter lying down and were not ready to forgive the boy and his family.
Since day one, his mother never said the truth insisting that it was a knockout that hit and killed my daughter and not a gun.
Even when Lily was shot and was writhing in pain in a pool of blood, it took the boy and his family three hours before they took Lily to the hospital and even this was after her elder sister had called her [Lilys] phone several times which rang unanswered.
Is that how to treat someones daughter who has visited your home? Were convinced they deliberately killed.
A Juvenile Court in Accra sentenced the 18-year old third-year student of Achimota Senior High School who shot Asigbetse with his fathers single barrel gun to three years at the correctional home.
The deceased Lily Dzigbordi Asigbetse who lived at Cantonments had visited the accused person at Community eight (8) in Tema.
READ MORE: Family of Lily Asigbetse want AG to hurry on shooting case
On January 5, this year, the accused told the police that he intended to shoot into the air however the gravity of the gun changed course and hit the deceased.
The prosecution said one Madam Gifty Billy, a neighbour, heard the gunshot and went to the scene. But she only found the victim lying in a pool of blood.
The prosecution said Gifty rushed the victim to the Port Clinic in Tema.
A recent poll by the BBC World Service states that 88% of Nigerian and 85% of Kenyan are worried about the hazy line between the real and fake news flooding the internet. Hence, prompting their governments to consider regulating citizens' activities on the internet.
The survey, which involves 18 countries across the globe, further revealed that 79% of respondents expressed worries about what is authentic as regards information gotten from the online platform.
For Africa, Nigeria and Kenya have the highest level Internet penetration rate. Thus, making fake news or propaganda spread easily among the public.
However, only China and the United Kingdom have a relative moderate online environment, and it is as a result of high government regulation of online activities. More so, the majority of respondents in these countries expressed support for continuation of the government's online monitoring programs (67% for China and 53% for the United Kingdom).
On a global assessment, government regulations of citizens' online activities was rejected by the majority of the respondents (58%). As it is considered a means if curtailing people's right to freedom of speech and expression.
Pulling Internet traffic and achieving high bounce rate have been noted as some of the main drivers for a wide spread of fake news. These two indicators are used as key parameters in media buying by corporate organizations and media agencies.
This is one of the outcomes of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) meeting of OPEC and Non-OPEC Countries held in Vienna, Austria on Friday, September 22, 2017.
Nigerias Oil Minister, Dr Ibe Kachikwu while explaining the reasons for this decision stated that the countrys oil production is below the agreed cap.
The average is about 1.69 million bpd and it is getting better by the day. We have actually joined, but the reality is the cap we agreed on is 1.8 million bpd and as long as we are producing below that, we are already in it, Dr Ibe Kachikwu told reporters in Vienna.
Bombing of oil installations by Niger Delta militants in the early part of the year was identified main factor hampering oil production level in the country. As many oil companies declared 'force majure' to reduce operational costs and losses during the period.
A lot of it is infrastructure. A lot of damage happened during the years of militancy, he further stated.
Nigeria and Libya are two African countries exempted from the OPEC oil cut deal as a result of the crisis in their oil and gas sector. However, relative peace in oil-producing regions of these countries has led to increase oil output. Therefore, prompting the decision to review JMMC stands on Nigeria and Libya.
Today is Sunday, September 24, meaning the world is still going on, sorry Meade. Now that his prediction has proven wrong, the researcher has a new date for rapture.
According to Daily Mail, Meade says that we should still prepare for the end of the world which has just been delayed but will now happen in October.
Basically, what he is saying is that this Saturday is only the beginning of the end times. Thus, we should be looking out for deadly events, that will eventually lead to the end of the world as we know it.
Speaking to the Washington Post, he said, The world is not ending, but the world as we know it is ending. A major part of the world will not be the same from the beginning of October.
ALSO READ: Christian researchers are not deceiving anyone with their fake predictions
Yahoo 7 News reports that September is the sign month, that will get the ball rolling and trigger the apocalyptic events (a tribulation period) that will lead to the end of the world.
Meades prediction is based on the Bible and Planet X, also known as Planet 9 or Nibiru, which he says will pass the Earth on September 23rd in his book called Planet X The 2017 Arrival.
His theory was initially aided when a new planet was discovered by NASA in the solar system.
Still, NASA is dismissing Meades claims with an updated post titled: 'Beyond 2012: Why the World Didnt End.' It was originally posted in 2012.
It said: Various people are predicting that world will end Sept. 23 when another planet collides with Earth. The planet in question, Niburu, doesnt exist, so there will be no collision.
The story of Niburu has been around for years (as has the days of darkness tale) and is periodically recycled into new apocalyptic fables.
News flash: the world didnt end on Dec. 21, 2012. Youve probably already figured that out for yourself.
Despite reports of an ancient Maya prophecy, a mysterious planet on a collision course with Earth, or a reverse in Earths rotation, were still here.
Meanwhile, Christian pastors and theologists have spoken out against Meades prediction with most criticising it.
His funeral will kick off on Wednesday, October 4, 2017, with a Christian wake at his father's compound in Ezekwuabor Otolo, Nnewi.
On Thursday, October 5, 2017, his body will leave the Akwudo Mortuary to his father's compound, before a mass by Holy Family Parish, Otolo Nnewi.
A comic actor before his death, Okwy Chukwujekwu was also known as Main Bossman. He reportedly passed away in Anambra State, following an asthma attack.
His death was confirmed by fellow actor Odira Nwobu on September 4, 2017, with a video of his dead body.
The National Chief Whip of Actors Guild of Nigeria, Empress Ikwumonu, had expressed the body's regret at Okwy's passing.
Yes, he is dead. At the moment, we dont really know the real cause of his death, though some are saying it was an asthma attack. However, his death is a big loss to the movie industry," she said.
He was very creative and talented. We pray God to give the family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss. We will keep the general public posted on the burial date.
Chukwujekwu's movies include "Men of Wisdom," "Ogbo Na Ncha," "Papa Do Something," "Ibu's Burial" among others.
His arrest was aided by a secret information offered to the law enforcement agents. The Daily Post News reported that the suspect had engaged in the act twice so far.
Babalola Adewole, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Niger State Police Command confirmed the authenticity of the report.
He stated that Idi who is from the Bosso Local Government Area of the state will be charged to court as soon as investigations are completed.
The PRO also reaffirmed the police commitment to fighting crime in Niger state. The suspect would be charged to court upon conclusion of investigations," he said.
Meanwhile, we will not relent in the fight against crime in the state until perpetrators are brought to book. We are determined to make Niger State crime-free.
ALSO READ: Married father of 6 caught having sex with goat
Just like homosexuality, sexual intercourse with animals has been another trend of immorality facing Nigeria.
African countries frown against such behaviour and have set up structures to ensure that they have no place in the society though no much is being done about corruption.
By PTI: Washington, Sep 24 (PTI) Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has said he will sell a large number of his companys shares that could raise upto USD 12 billion that he intends to use to fund philanthropic efforts in health and education.
Zuckerberg said he plans to sell 35 million to 75 million shares - worth up to USD 12 billion at current prices - over the next 18 months for philanthropy.
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He said because Facebook is now so valuable, he can sell a smaller allotment of his stake in the company to contribute capital to his charity initiatives to help eradicate diseases and provide education to all children.
"Over the past year-and-a-half, Facebooks business has performed well and the value of our stock has grown to the point that I can fully fund our philanthropy and retain voting control of Facebook for 20 years or more," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post. PTI KUN
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But earlier this week, the Daily Star, an Australian tabloid, published a "dire warning" that sex with a robot could quickly turn deadly, if hackers are able to assume control of the robot's body and use it to murder its unsuspecting owner.
The Star's claims were supported by an interview with Dr. Nick Patterson, an Australian cybersecurity researcher at Deakin University in Victoria, who explained how digital control of a robot could result in physical harm to its owner, if a hacker was malicious enough.
"Sex robot ARMIES: Fears hackers could create killer cyborgs and turn technology on punters," the Star's headline reads. "ULTRA-REALISTIC sex robots could be used by warped hackers to attack humans, according to a chilling warning."
The gist of the story, essentially, was that a hacker with full access to a human-sized, human-weight device could give it commands to physically harm whoever is, uh, *interacting* with it. Many sex robots have moveable parts, but because they're mostly designed to be soft and flexible, they're probably not going to be a hacker's first choice to go full terminator.
There are a lot of issues with sex robots, which Men's Health previously explored when we discussed the ethical implications of the sex robot debate. But the thing is, Patterson didn't say anything about sex robots being dangerous at all. In fact, Patterson's quotes to the Star, which subsequently spread like wildfire through Australian, British, and then U.S. tabloids like the New York Post, don't even appear to discuss sex robots specifically at all, something that Patterson explicitly confirmed to Men's Health.
"I led the interview in terms of all kinds of robots, industrial, consumer etc. The media ran with the click bait," Patterson told Men's Health in an email. What he actually told the Star was that hackers can hack into a robot or a robotic device and have full control of the connections, arms, legs and other attached tools like in some cases knives or welding devices. Often these robots can be upwards of 200 pounds, and very strong. Once a robot is hacked, the hacker has full control and can issue instructions to the robot."
While sexbots are often heavy, they're rarely over 200 pounds heavy that would make them pretty damn impractical to pick up, maneuver, and position. RealDoll, one of the most popular brands, advertises dolls and robots that weigh around 75 pounds (that link is NSFW, if shopping for sex toys during office hours is frowned upon at your workplace). Clearly, Patterson was referring to industrial robots or other machines, not necessarily sex robots.
While, sure, sex robot hacking will probably become a concern at some point in the future, if a cybercriminal wants to inflict real harm, a glorified Fleshlight probably isn't where they'll start. In 2015, a team of car-hackers proved they could remotely kill a Jeep with a digital command, and as more and more cars add wireless and LTE connectivity, companies and government investigators are starting to pay more attention.
The motivation: Better performance at work
Study says: People who took part in a weight-loss program were able to work more hours than they could previouslylikely because their weight loss improved their health, so they didn't take as many sick days.
Will it work for me? It has promise. "When you're healthier, you can handle stress better and your confidence is boosted, which can help at the office."
The motivation: Cold hard cash
Study says: Out of two study groups that hit their weight loss goals, the group that was eligible for extra cash rewards lost twice as much weight in eight months.
Will it work for me?"Once the money stops, you'd need a new motivation." One option: Many employers offer wellness programs that give workers breaks on insurance premiums for participating.
IPOB said but for the intervention of the upper chamber, the Nigerian Army would have commenced the mass execution of IPOB members.
A statement by the group's spokesman, Emma Powerful, said: "mass execution of members of IPOB would have commenced under the cover of Operation Python Dance II, if not for the quick intervention of the Senate President and his colleagues from the South-East."
IPOB assured that it will co-operate with any commission of inquiry or panel set up by the Senate to ascertain what truly transpired before, during and after the Operation Python Dance II.
The statement reads; "That South-East lawmakers refused to be cowed into submission to tag IPOB under the leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, a terrorist and unlawful organisation should be applauded by all lovers of freedom around the world. It represents the triumph of freedom of speech and association over tyranny, brute force and dictatorial tendencies.
"Having demonstrated this rare courage in the face of overwhelming tyranny and oppression, we, the IPOB members would gladly welcome any fact finding mission the lawmakers may consider necessary under the circumstance.
"Without prejudicing the outcome of this or any other Senate inquiry, we see this as a welcome opportunity to demonstrate to all and sundry that IPOB was never, can never and will never bear arms against anybody or state. This is a golden opportunity for Nigerian lawmakers to ascertain the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
"We strongly urge the National Assembly to investigate the activities of IPOB thoroughly because we have nothing to fear. They should also look into the recent killings of unarmed civilian populations in Afaraukwu Umuahia and Aba in the on-going military occupation of Biafraland.
"We are also calling on the United Nation UN, European Union EU, African Union AU, ECOWAS, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, USA, Israel, Russia, Britain, Germany, France, and other relevant human rights to probe IPOB and thoroughly investigate the on-going killings of unarmed and innocent civilians."
Meanwhile, IPOB had in an earlier statement said that the Radio Biafra which is said to be based outside the country neither belongs to MASSOB nor its leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike.
ALSO READ: France is angry with Nigeria over IPOB sponsorship accusation
The group in the statement explained that though MASSOB assisted in funding the radio station, the arrangement only lasted from April to July 2009.
Since the turn of the year, personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have intercepted four batches of cache of weapons illegally making their way across Nigeria.
Most of the interceptions have occurred at the Tin Can Island port in Apapa, Lagos.
In February 2017, Customs seized 661 pieces of pump-action rifles which reportedly arrived Nigerias shores from China. The guns were hidden within steel doors and other goods. The AK47 rifles were concealed in 49 boxes.
In June of 2017, Customs personnel seized a container with 440 arms and ammunition including pump action rifles and single-barreled devices. The cargo which was coming from Turkey, was disguised as Plaster Of Paris (POP).
In September 2017, Customs seized 1,100 firearms being smuggled in from Turkeyagain at the Tin-Can Island Port, Lagos.
The arms were concealed in a 20-foot container.
Undetected weapons
The Comptroller-General of Customs Hameed Ali announced that two persons had been arrested in connection with that cache seizure.
The two arrested persons were a Customs official and a Terminal Clerk--supporting claims that the smugglers work in cahoots with compromised officials in Nigeria.
Again, Customs has just announced the seizure of another cache of 470 rifles.
For purposes of a compilation, 661 weapons were intercepted in February, 440 in June and 1,570 in September alone. That brings the total number of weapons seized thus far this year in Nigeria to 2, 671.
Pundits say for each arms interception made public, there are at least six or more cache of arms making their way across Nigerias porous borders, undetected.
Now that Tin Can Island port has become a hot spot for arms smuggling, these criminals will move elsewhere and we must be on the alert, admitted Customs boss Ali who also agreed that stopping the influx is becoming a herculean task for his team.
Turkish connection
The light weapons and small arms proliferation in Nigeria has led some pundits to suggest that it has everything to do with the unrest in the Southeast by the since proscribed Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) and the forthcoming Anambra governorship election in November.
The name Turkey has cropped up in recent times as law enforcement attempt to get a handle on the arms proliferation saga.
On September 17, 2017, Turkey had to deny Abdulkadir Erkahramanone of its nationals who has openly identified with IPOB and its activities and who is close friends with IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu.
ALSO READ: All the times illicit weapons were seized this year
Turkey said Erkahraman is neither a diplomat nor a civil servant or an official representative of the Government of Turkey like he claims.
In unofficial circles, Erkahraman has been described as "IPOB's arms supplier".
According to the Turkish embassy: "Turkey never supports secessionist activities against the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
However, Customs Comptroller Ali says there is an arms syndicate operating in Turkey that is behind the illegal cargoes and shipments of late.
Our findings have shown that this dastardly act is being committed by Nigerians and there are syndicates in Turkey that are manifesting this.
We are yet to get to the bottom of the whole thing. Are these arms meant for commercial purposes, or meant to be given to a group of insurgents or agitators and kidnappers?
That aspect of the investigation is still ongoing, the DSS and other agencies will let us know what their findings are".
Buhari summons Turkish Ambassador
Customs boss Ali also said Nigeria's president is bringing up the arms issue in high level diplomatic talks between both countries.
In Ali's words: For us in the NCS, we have developed a profile and, like I promised you, we are going to escalate the issue beyond the borders of Nigeria.
Having identified the country of origin, we will not relent in making sure that we get to the bottom of why the offensive import is coming from one particular country.
Fortunately, we have made an inroad, we will have the first diplomatic meeting with the Turkish Ambassador basically on this issue of arms import.
Already, has discussed this issue at an international forum and the Ambassador has been mandated to sit with us and let us find the way forward.
Steps are being taken beyond the shores of Nigeria in order to establish what is happening. Why is it happening and how we can stop it?
We want to be ahead of these criminals, we are right inside the port to track and monitor containers right from the ship. We are getting more advanced and employing all the technology we have, Col Ali said.
The Turkish embassy in Nigeria wasnt immediately available for comments for this story.
Diplomatic row
The Turkey angle is the latest possible diplomatic row Nigeria will be immersing self into following heightened tension in the country's Southeast over the activities of IPOB.
It will be recalled that the Federal Government of Nigeria has called out its France and UK counterparts for covertly lending their territories to the 'heinous' operations of Kanu and IPOB.
A statement issued on Sunday, September 24, on behalf of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, said the trial of 1,670 of the detainees in Wawa Barracks will commence in October.
It was disclosed that a special prosecution arrangement that will handle the trial has already been put in place.
The statement said that after exhausting the cases in Kainji, the cases of 651 suspects currently detained at Maiduguri prison, would be taken up by the special arrangement.
It said 220 other suspects detained in the Kainji detention facility would be released due to lack of evidence for any successful prosecution.
The soon-to-be-released suspects would, however, be subjected to "de-radicalization programme."
The AGF's spokesman, Mr. Salihu Isah, who signed the statement, said the 220 persons were "Boko Haram suspects who were hitherto investigated by the Joint Investigation Team set up by the Defence Headquarters otherwise known as DHQ/JIT and case files transmitted to the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and after a careful review of the cases based on their individual merit, it was discovered that they have no prima facie cases that will sustain a charge against them in any court of law hence were recommended for release and handed over to the Office of the National Security Adviser for rehabilitation and/or de-radicalisation."
ALSO READ: Many oil workers reported dead in Boko Haram ambush
Troops were said to have carried out some raids in Imo, Anambra and Abia States, where the arrests were made.
Recovered during the raids were locally made pistols and five Dane guns.
According to Punch, the army arrested 17 suspects in Obinze community in Imo while seven were arrested in the Ukukwa North Local Government Area of Anambra.
It was gathered that 10 suspected cult members were also arrested during two operations on Awara and Assa communities in the Ohaji-Egbema LGA of Imo.
The army said that another group of three kidnap suspects identified as Arinze Ugiri, 39, Okezie Nwobolo, 30, and Michael Sunday, 24 were arrested from a hideout in Abia State.
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The suspects were reportedly handed over to the police after the initial questioning.
Buhari and Osinbajo had said that the country's unity is settled and not negotiable but Tinubu said there is still room for dialogue on the kind of country we want and that restructuring will bring the much-needed balance to the country.
Tinubu stated this on Saturday, September 23, while speaking at the annual dinner of the King's College Old Boys' Association.
He said Nigeria has not sufficiently defined its governance.
"We are like the bewildered couple who has got their marriage license after a lavish wedding; yet neither of them really understands the meaning of marriage or their roles as husband and wife in it," the former governor of Lagos State said.
"Legally, they are married but functionally, their union is a crippled one. This couple will be at loggerheads until somehow they forge an agreement on what type of home they want and what are their respective duties in making that home come into existence.
"It is a rather curious lapse that a nation with such diversity as ours has not taken the time to give our legal marriage its proper functional underpinning. In other words, we all lined up to call ourselves Nigerians without gathering to discuss what it meant.
"We may be defined by political borders and boundaries but we have not glued ourselves to collective purpose and vision. Too many of us are born in Nigeria but not of it. Thus, our society is not a collective enterprise as important to each of us as our own personal endeavour. It is a platform, an arena, to claim whatever one can by whatever means available.
"Thus, we argue over matters that long ago should have been settled. The longer such fundamental questions fester, the more extreme become the proposed answers. Thus, we have people clamouring for secession in one part of the country and the murmur of such a course grows stronger in other sections."
The APC leader noted that blame and recrimination has replaced statesmanship, which he said would further make progress more difficult.
Tinubu added: "Constitutionally, we are a federation of 36 states. However, the vestiges of past military rule continue to haunt the democratic road we hew. We function like a unitary state in many ways. We cannot become a better Nigeria with an undue concentration of power at the federal level. Competition for federal office will be too intense, akin to a winner-take-all duel.
"Those who lose will bristle at the lack of power in the periphery they occupy. They will scheme to pester and undermine the strong executive because that is where they want to be. The executive will become so engaged in deflecting their antics, that it will not devote its great powers to the issues of progressive governance for which such powers were bestowed.
"Things will be in a constant state of disequilibrium and irritation. Such a situation tends toward the maintenance of an unsatisfactory status quo in the political economy. It is against reform.
"It would be better to restructure things to attain the correct balance between our collective purpose on (the) one hand and our separate grass-roots realities on the other. We must listen to what is being said so that we can determine what is really meant."
The APC leader, however, opposed the idea of Nigeria splitting, saying those clamouring for it are looking out for their personal interests.
He said, "Let us be frank. Many who cry separation do so because their personal ambitions will be better served by such a thing. They believe they will have greater chance at political power under a different arrangement. Yet the cry for separation has gained traction among average people. This is due to the chronic failure of government to meet basic aspirations.
"If over the years, government had delivered on the promise of growth, prosperity, and justice, those calling for such extreme remedies would be but a small fringe of little consequence.
"Our task is not to condemn but to listen and understand. I care not at all for this proposed solution. But I dare not discount the concerns and problems that have led many people into advocating such a thing.
"Here, I want to plainly state my position. I am a firm believer in Nigeria. I believe this land will become a great nation and a leader among other African nations. We can resolve our dysfunctions in a manner that will make this nation rise as a standard of decency, justice and prosperity for all Nigerians."
On September 20, 2017, a High Court in Abuja granted the Federal Government of Nigeria its request to have IPOB proscribed.
This followed renewed violent agitations for the realisation of an independent Biafra nation by IPOB and its leader Nnamdi Kanu.
The agitations led to skirmishes and bloody clashes between the Nigeria Army and pro-Biafra agitators in Abia, Southeast Nigeria.
As tension heightened around the country's South-East and South-South regions on the back of the army's 'Operation Python Dance II' and clashes between law enforcement and IPOB members, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) and South-East Governors immediately declared the activities of IPOB illegal and banned.
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Their proclamations were backed with the force of law a couple of days later when Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, obtained an ex parte court injunction formally proscribing IPOB a terrorist outfit.
However, the United States says it doesn't yet see the separatist group in that light.
A spokesperson for the American Embassy in Nigeria, Russell Brooks, told local newspaper, The Punch, that IPOB isn't yet proscribed within its borders.
The United States Government is strongly committed to Nigerias unity. Important political and economic issues affecting the Nigerian people, such as the allocation of resources, are worthwhile topics for respectful debate in a democracy.
Within the context of unity, we encourage all Nigerians to support a de-escalation of tensions and peaceful resolution of grievances. The Indigenous People of Biafra is not a terrorist organisation under US law, Brooks said.
According to Punch, the US embassy also declined to comment on whether the Federal Government of Nigeria had requested that the US treat IPOB as a terrorist organisation and help block IPOB financing from the United States.
Brooks also maintained sealed lips when quizzed concerning what the US position was on IPOB and its activities.
Asim Omer, who was studying at Khartoum University, was arrested in December last year and charged with killing the policeman after hundreds of students clashed with security forces at the campus on the banks of the Blue Nile in April 2016.
Last month the court found Omer guilty, and on Sunday sentenced him to be hanged.
"The judge sentenced Asim Omer to be hanged to death after finding him guilty of killing a policeman," defence lawyer Mohamed Arabi told AFP, adding he would appeal.
After the sentencing, crowds of students who had gathered outside the court began protesting and police fired teargas to disperse them, an AFP correspondent reported.
Students at Khartoum University several times last year demonstrated against what they said was a plan to sell off buildings belonging to the institution.
The government denied the charge, and police often resorted to firing teargas to disperse the protesters.
Demonstrations against local grievances occur frequently in Sudan but are often suppressed by police and state security agencies.
In late 2016, sporadic anti-government rallies were staged in Khartoum after the government raised fuel prices.
The demonstrations were swiftly broken up by security forces, and dozens of opposition leaders and activists were arrested.
The biggest crackdown on protesters was in September 2013, when dozens of demonstrators were killed during anti-austerity rallies.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Khartoum and in some other regions calling for the downfall of President Omar al-Bashir's regime, also after the authorities slashed fuel subsidies.
Rights group Amnesty International said at the time that about 200 people were killed, hundreds were wounded and more than 800 arrested.
The traditionally left-leaning Greens were seen winning around 9.5 percent and the Left Party some 9 percent.
By AP: Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc was on course Sunday for a lackluster victory in Germany's national election while the anti-migrant Alternative for Germany party was heading for a triumphant entry into parliament, projections suggested.
Merkel's main center-left rivals, the Social Democrats, were set to slump to a historic low after Sunday's vote. The party, led by challenger Martin Schulz, vowed immediately to leave Merkel's coalition government and go into opposition.
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The outcome puts Merkel on course to win a fourth term as chancellor - but leaves her with the very tricky task of forming a new government.
Projections for ARD and ZDF public television, based on exit polls and early counting, showed Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and their Bavaria-only allies, the Christian Social Union, winning around 33 percent of the vote - down from 41.5 percent four years ago.
Schulz's Social Democrats were seen trailing far behind, with 20-21 percent support. That would be the worst result since World War II for the party, which has served since 2013 as the junior partner in a "grand coalition" of Germany's biggest parties under Merkel.
Smaller parties were the chief beneficiaries of an erosion in support for the pair: above all the right-wing nationalist Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, which was polling up to 13.5 percent. It capitalized on discontent with established politicians but particularly targeted those angry over the influx of more than 1 million mostly Muslim migrants in the past two years.
Another big winner Sunday was the pro-business Free Democratic Party, which appeared set to return to parliament with 10.5 percent of the vote. The party was Merkel's coalition partner in her second term from 2009-2013 but lost all its seats at the last election.
The traditionally left-leaning Greens were seen winning around 9.5 percent and the Left Party some 9 percent.
The caucus leader of Merkel's Union bloc, Volker Kauder, said he "would have liked a better result" but voters had given the party the task of forming the next government.
The Social Democrats made clear that they don't want to be part of it.
"For us it is very clear that the voters have given us the task of going ahead as the strongest party in opposition," said Manuela Schwesig, a deputy party leader.
If the Social Democrats stick to that pledge, Merkel will effectively have only one option to form a new government: teaming up with the Free Democrats and the Greens in an alliance that has never yet been tried in a national German government.
That combination - known as a "Jamaica" coalition because the parties' colors match those of that country's flag - will have to overcome traditional distrust between both the Free Democrats and Greens and between parts of Merkel's conservative bloc and the Greens.
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The Left Party is incompatible with the conservatives and all others have voted not to work with AfD.
AfD co-leader Alexander Gauland vowed that "we will take our country back" and promised to "chase" Merkel.
"This is a big day in our party's history. We have entered the Bundestag and we will change this country," Gauland said.
Big cheers went up at AfD headquarters after the exit polls were announced. Some supporters chanted "AfD! AfD!" and others started singing the German national anthem.
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These are heady times for fans of the Apocalypse and those arming themselves for Armageddon. The continuing string of Atlantic hurricanes, wild forest fires in the West and deadly Mexican earthquakes is enough to get folks thinking about End Times.
Apocalyptic literature stretches all the way back to the Bibles Book of Daniel, in which that virtuous young man dreamed of the overthrow of Antiochus Epiphanes IV, the Seleucid monarch who persecuted the Jews; whose aggression touched off the Maccabean Revolt.
In his dream, Daniel laid out a detailed prophecy of the last days, how the enemy would march on Jerusalem and how this period of oppression would end in Gods triumph and a subsequent period of peace for the Jewish people.
This was a prophecy written after the event, but the Apocalyptic tradition taken up later by both Jews and Christians looks forward to a time yet to come. The fact it never quite arrived hasnt dampened peoples tendency to see in natural disasters a beginning of the End.
In our day, science also has gotten into disaster prediction. Excepting earthquakes, they have done a pretty good job, giving us ample warning of this years hurricanes and fire-inducing droughts. Unfortunately, they havent included much hope for a peaceful time after. Its just going to get worse.
The prospects for Armageddon are starting to increase as well, once again with no promise of peace and a regathering of Israel or any other country. Not since the 50s have we had to rethink the possibility of a nuclear holocaust.
Its not just that we have two unstable, pseudo-macho leaders with the authority to launch nuclear warheads. Its rather the realization we havent yet found a way to get the nuclear option off the table. Or, as a side note, the safe disposal of an ever-increasing accumulation of hazardous nuclear waste.
There are reckless people in the world who would like to blow everything up. Their motives range from simple anger to religious conviction. Some isolate themselves from the resultant suffering by imagining they will be raptured away before things get really ugly.
I rather suspect that, as Tim Lehrer suggested in an ironic song, we will all go together when we go. There will be no Edenic peace after a nuclear exchange. Hiroshima and Nagasaki have made a return after their obliteration but not to normal.
The weapons we have now are far more powerful, and sufficient in number, to irradiate the planet. The schoolyard taunts being exchanged by our president and North Koreas Kim Jong-un are typical of weak men pretending to be tough; we would like to dismiss this as cheap bravado. But unstable men are a danger, even when they are brandishing only handguns.
There is also a worrisome eagerness in some pious folks to exchange this world for the next, who happily accept destruction as a prelude to an imagined peace. Unfortunately, they will take with them those who arent ready to leave this one ahead of time.
There might be something consoling in putting our present natural problems and the unsettling possibility of future man-made disaster into a spiritual context. Ascribing it all to the will of God rather than human carelessness and ineptitude is an excuse; a lame one, at that.
We are stewards of the earth. We are our brothers -- and sisters -- keepers. We are more than the planets top predators -- and of the entire food chain, come to that. We are, at once, the product and the drivers of evolution. There can be no Apocalypse or Armageddon that is not of our making.
As Edward O. Wilson writes in his masterful work, "The Social Conquest of the World," Humanity today is like a walking dreamer, caught between the fantasies of sleep and the chaos of the real world. We have created a Star Wars civilization, with Stone Age emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology. We thrash about. We are terribly confused by the mere fact of our existence and a danger to ourselves and to the rest of life.
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Western media and analytical commentary on Zapad 2017 has focused on the numbers of Russian military personnel participating in the joint Belarus-Russia strategic exercise, speculating about whether Moscow was using the event as cover to launch a real attack against neighboring states, or promoting the notion that Moscow will leave some of the deployed forces in Belarus after its conclusion. However, there has been little attention to how the early phase of the exercise reveals key features in Russian military thinking. Compared with Zapad 2013, the exercise featured wider participation by Russian security agencies, but differed little in substance. In short, the scenarios and execution of Zapad 2017 are quite consistent with the central themes of past Zapad exercises. And this years Zapad war game has concluded peacefully (Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye, September 15).
Zapad 2017 commenced on September 14, and its two active phases brought the exercise to its conclusion on September 20. Other than some media interest in an accidental helicopter strike on civilian vehicles situated close to observers, none of the Western hype appears to have been justified. Predictably, Zapad 2017 passed without Moscow initiating a military assault upon its neighbors. The exercise was certainly impressive in terms of its geographical coverage, logistics, and the sheer scale of activity among Russian forces; this extended well beyond the Western Military District (MD) to cover activities and tactical rehearsals of combat or related operations in all the other MDs. A number of parallel exercises were no doubt built into the exercise in order to offer the General Staff greater insight into Russias defense capabilities. While, the Russian Ground Forces and special forces units played a central role in the exercise, Zapad encapsulated the various branches and arms of service, providing opportunity to test a variety of improvements and lessons drawn from Russias recent experience of conflict. This involved six training ranges in Belarus and three ranges in Russia, with much of the activity centered on Luga (Voyenno Promyshlennyy Kuryer, September 19).
Despite the claims by Russias defense ministry that Zapad 2017 focused on a scenario featuring terrorist incursions into Belarus, much of the Russian military media identified that in the first active, defense-linked phase, the rehearsal involved countering a conventional force. It has long been known that the Zapad series of exercises rehearses the defense of the Belarus-Russia Union State against an intervention by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Zapad 2017, according to the reporting of the first phase, was no different. Russian military theorists and senior General Staff officers have studied the evolution of military interventions by the United States as well as NATO and concluded that high value is placed on the initial period of war; at that point, Western forces use mainly air power to attempt to shape the battlespace. This conclusionwhich also plays into the long-standing Soviet/Russian fear of a surprise attack, drawing on the events of June 1941, with reference to the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999drives the investment into and military planning based on air-defense and conventional precision-strike systems. Beyond the observations that Zapad 2017 was a rehearsal for large-scale war, there are deeper lessons to be identified: from how Russian forces conducted the early stages of Zapad 2017, to how some of those themes carried through the entire exercise (Mil.by, accessed September 20).
Reported use of strategic down to tactical air defense, combined with the employment of additional assets, in the very early stage of Zapad 2017 confirms that the Russian military rehearsed a conventional response to a massive aerial attack. During the first phase, joint military forces worked on raising combat readiness among the deployed force groupings, moving troops, deploying command-and-control assets, as well as organizing interactions among these forces and affording force protection. Reportedly, aviation and air-defense units from the 6th Army Air Force and Air Defense in the Western MD conducted various tactical episodes aimed at repelling massive air strikes by a conventional opponent. Pilots also worked on striking ground targets and providing escorts for bombers. Operational-tactical and other tactical missiles were used during this process. The Aerospace Forces (Vozdushno Kosmicheskikh SilVKS) conducted sorties mainly using Su-27, Su-35, Su-30SM and MiG-31 fighters to destroy enemy aircraft, while Su-34 bombers struck infrastructure, columns of armored vehicles, and enemy command-and-control nodes; an Su-24MR jet was used for reconnaissance to transmit the coordinates of ground targets (Krasnaya Zvezda, September 17).
Anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) methods were quickly put into place to construct a multilayer air-defense bubble, similar to the Russian A2/AD assets used in Syria. Russian air-defense systems were forward deployed from their bases in the Western MD, including S-300s, S-400s and Pantsir-S1s. The simulation that ensued targeted enemy cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and aircraft (TASS, September 16). In Kaliningrad, TASS reported similar activity among Russian naval assets. Corvettes in the Baltic Fleet were used to strike aerial, naval and coastal targets, implying an A2/AD mission. In this case, the air attack was simulated by Su-24 attack aircraft alongside Ka-27 anti-submarine-warfare helicopters (TASS, September 17).
In this phase of the exercise, a number of other Russian A2/AD components featured in addition to identifiable air-defense systems. Notable among these was the Iskander-M, a dual-capable (nuclear/conventional) tactical ballistic missile. Successful Iskander strikes were reported at training ranges, including a 480-kilometer strike against a target at a training range in Kazakhstan from units in the Central MD, as well as a variety of cruise missiles fired from air, land and sea. The Missile and Artillery Troops (Raketnyye Voyska i ArtilleriyaRV&A), a Branch of Arms in the Ground Forces, serving as the primary means of destroying enemy forces by conventional and nuclear fires, were in action throughout Zapad 2017, rather than solely at the end. The RV&A also used the older Tochka-U system, which is in the process of being fully replaced by the Iskander-M (TASS, RBC, September 18). Traditionally, the Iskanders appearance in Russian exercises is assumed to indicate the rehearsal for a tactical nuclear weapons strike. In Zapad 2017, the Iskander was mainly conventional in its support of A2/AD. Moreover, the Russian missile forces appear to have rehearsed the use of the cruise missile that can be mounted on the Iskander platform, greatly extending the systems strike range well beyond 500 km (Livejournal, September 20).
The emphasis on A2/AD during Zapad 2017 and the use of Russias conventional precision-strike systems throughout the exercise suggest more than simply preparation for larger-scale war. It seems rooted in rehearsing conflict-escalation dominance and deploying forces and assets during a crisis to ensure the avoidance of a regional conflict intensifying to a global war.
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Angela Merkel's conservative bloc is on track to remain the largest group in parliament, opinion polls indicated, but a fracturing of the political landscape may well make it harder for her to form a ruling coalition than previously.
German chancellor Angela Merkel is likely to become the chancellor for the fourth time. Photo: Reuters
By Reuters: Germans began voting in a national election on Sunday that is likely to see Chancellor Angela Merkel win a historic fourth term and a far-right party enter parliament for the first time in more than half a century.
Merkel's conservative bloc is on track to remain the largest group in parliament, opinion polls indicated, but a fracturing of the political landscape may well make it harder for her to form a ruling coalition than previously.
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With as many as a third of Germans undecided in the run-up to the election, Merkel and her main rival, centre-left challenger Martin Schulz of the Social Democrats (SPD), urged them on Saturday to get out and vote. "We want to boost your motivation so that we can still reach many, many people," the chancellor, 63, said in Berlin on Saturday before heading north to her constituency for a final round of campaigning.
In regional votes last year, Merkel's conservatives suffered setbacks to the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which profited from resentment at her 2015 decision to leave German borders open to over one million migrants. Those setbacks made Merkel, a pastor's daughter who grew up in Communist East Germany, wonder if she should even run for re-election.
But with the migrant issue under control this year, she has bounced back and thrown herself into a punishing campaign schedule, presenting herself as an anchor of stability in an uncertain world.
Visibly happier, Merkel campaigned with renewed conviction: a resolve to re-tool the economy for the digital age, to head off future migrant crises, and to defend a Western order shaken by Donald Trump's US election victory last November.
"GRAVEDIGGERS OF DEMOCRACY"
Both Merkel and Schulz worry that a low turnout could work in favour of smaller parties, especially the AfD, which is expected to enter the national parliament for the first time. On Friday, Schulz described the AfD as "gravediggers of democracy".
An INSA poll published by Bild newspaper on Saturday suggested that support was slipping for Merkel's conservatives, who dropped two percentage points to 34 per cent, and the SPD, down one point to 21 per cent--both now joined in an unwieldy "grand coalition". The anti-immigrant AfD rose two points to 13 per cent, putting it on course to be the third-largest party.
Should she win a fourth term, Merkel will join the late Helmut Kohl, her mentor who reunified Germany, and Konrad Adenauer, who led Germany's rebirth after World War Two, as the only post-war chancellors to win four national elections.
The AfD's expected entry into the national parliament is likely to herald an era of more robust debate in German politics--a departure from the steady, consensus-based approach that has marked the post-war period.
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Coalition building after the election will be an arduous process that could take months as all potential partners are unsure whether they really want to share power with Merkel. All major parties refuse to work with the AfD. Electoral arithmetic might push Merkel to renew her grand coalition with the SPD, or she might opt for a three-way alliance with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and environmentalist Greens.
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At an Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement held Aug. 16, the majority of attendees felt some sort of action should be taken to recognize the problematic nature of Athens' confederate monuments.
In a major goof-up, Pakistans Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi on Sunday flashed a picture of an injured Gaza girl with no connection to India while alleging she was a victim of pellet guns in Kashmir.
Exercising her right to reply hours after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj blasted Pakistan for its support to terrorism, Lodhi, on the floor of the UN General Assembly, held up a photograph of a woman whose face was peppered with alleged pellet gun wounds.
This is the face of Indian democracy, Lodhi claimed.
The picture of 17-year-old Rawya abu Jomaa of Gaza, an alleged victim of an Israeli attack was actually taken by award-winning American photo journalist Heidi Levine in July, 2014.
The picture is available on multiple news websites.
Rawya abu Jomaa, 17, at the Shifa hospital in GazaCity. Rawya was wounded when two Israeli air strikes hit her familys apartment. Three of her cousins and her sister were killed in the strike, says the caption of the photo on the website of the UKs Guardian newspaper.
Quite evidently, the picture has no connection with Kashmir.
Lodhi, who is quite active on social media, including on Twitter, was silent after it emerged that she posed a fake picture during her right of reply at the UN General Assembly.
The Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN also did not immediately respond to a question on Lodhis apparent use of such a picture.
Watch the video HERE
Image: Maleeha Lodhi waving dramatic pictures of a girl with pellet injuries on her face during her response to Sushma Swaraj's speech at the UNGA. Photograph: Twitter
By Manjeet Sehgal: The police on Sunday arrested two staff members of Om Public School on charges of gang raping a student.
Police action comes after an anonymous letter, believed to have been written by the victim, was sent to Prime Minister, President of India, chief minister and district-level officers.
In the letter, the victim mentioned that two school staff members, school building inspector Sukhbir and accountant Karanveer had sexually exploited her in school and at various hotels. And, now the accused were compelling her to bring her friend to a hotel.
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The matter, according to the victim, was also brought to the notice of the class teacher and school principal, but they did not take any action against the accused employees.
"I wanted to commit suicide, but was supported by my friend. We also spoke to our class in-charge who assured that she will speak to the principal who had said that "this happens". I also decided to speak to the director, but it appeared useless. Then wrote to you Modi uncle as my life has been spoiled. But, I saved my friend. I could not tell this to my parents as I belong to a rural area. My brother would have killed me. I am to die but after these people are punished. I will commit suicide if no action is taken. School Director will be responsible for my suicide," the letter said.
The police on Sunday also questioned school managing director, principal and other staff. The CCTV camera footage is also being scanned. Gohana SDM Subhita Dhaka along with a team of women and Child Development Department also visited the school.
"We are investigating the case thoroughly. The accused are being questioned and a case has been registered. The victim has neither mentioned her name nor her class or any contacts in the letter. The school sexual harassment committee has not received any complaint. The investigation is on," DSP Gohana, Mukesh Jakhar said.
Meanwhile, the school management has refuted the allegations and said the allegations were being levelled to sully the image of the school."If the allegations are true, strict action will be taken against the accused employees. The school will render all sorts of help to the victim if she comes forward," says Nirmala Lathar, managing director, Om Public School.
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Two soldiers were on Sunday injured as Pakistan opened fire at forward posts along the Line of Control in Balakote sector of Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir, the army said.
Troops guarding the border retaliated and the exchange of fire between the two sides lasted for nearly 30 minutes.
A defence spokesman said that Pakistani troops opened fire and shelled forward posts along the LoC in Bhimber Gali area of Balakote sector around 0300 hours, resulting in splinter injuries to two jawans.
Hundreds of border dwellers have been forced to flee their homes due to the Pakistani firing and shelling and take shelter at camps set up by the government.
Incidents of ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops have increased sharply this year.
Till August 1, there have been 285 such violations by the Pakistan army, while in 2016, the number was significantly less at 228 for the entire year, according to figures by the Indian Army.
United States bombers flew off the east coast of North Korea in a show of strength carried out to demonstrate American military prowess amid escalated tensions between the two countries due to Pyongyang's weapons programs.
"This mission is a demonstration of US resolve and a clear message that the President (Donald Trump) has many military options to defeat any threat," Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Dana W White said in a statement on Saturday.
The US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers from Guam, along with the force's F-15C Eagle fighter escorts from Okinawa, Japan, flew in international airspace over the waters east of North Korea on Saturday, she said.
The flight came after days of increasingly bellicose rhetoric between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's regime, as international alarm mounts over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
"This is the farthest north of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) any US fighter or bomber aircraft have flown off North Korea's coast in the 21st century, underscoring the seriousness with which we take DPRK's reckless behaviour," White said.
She said that North Korea's weapons program is a grave threat to the Asia-Pacific region and the entire international community.
"We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the US homeland and our allies," the Pentagon official said.
Representative image
UP CM Yogi Adityanath has sought a report in the incident, as various political parties criticised the government and condemned the police action.
IMAGE: A bike in flames during clashes between the students and police at Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, late Saturday night. Photograph: PTI Photo
A number of students, including women, and two journalists were injured in lathi charge by the police in the Banaras Hindu University which witnessed violence on Saturday night, in an ugly turn to a protest against an alleged eve-teasing incident.
In the wake of the violence, the university has announced holidays from Monday till October 2, advancing it from September 28.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath sought a report from the divisional commissioner about the incident as various political parties, including Samajwadi Party, criticised the government and condemned the police action.
A number of students, including women, and two journalists were injured in the lathi charge by the police.
Some policemen were also injured in the clashes during which students indulged in arson, police sources said.
IMAGE: An injured student writhing in pain after police allegedly beat them up during a clash at Banaras Hindu University late Saturday night. Photograph: PTI Photo
Violence erupted after some students, protesting against the alleged eve-teasing incident of Thursday, wanted to meet the Vice Chancellor at his residence on Saturday night, according to police and university sources.
The security guards of the university stopped them and the police was informed, according to the university sources.
BHU spokesperson said some students wanted to forcibly enter the VCs residence but they were stopped by the security guards of the university.
Subsequently, there was stone pelting by outsiders who had joined the students.
Police used lathicharge to control the situation.
I have sought a report from the divisional commissioner, Varanasi, about the entire incident, Adityanath said in Lucknow.
IMAGE: Nearly 1500 policemen including PAC personnel have been deployed in and around the campus to maintain law and order in the campus. Photograph: PTI Photo
The lathi charge on journalists led to protests in Lucknow with some journalists staging a sit-in near the CMs residence. They later gave a memorandum to the District Magistrate demanding action against the guilty.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav condemned the lathi charge of the students in BHU.
The government should resolve the issue by talks, not by lathi charge. It is condemnable. Action should be taken against the guilty, Akhilesh tweeted.
On Saturday night, the BHU issued a statement, saying the dharna by the students just a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit was politically motivated to malign the image of the university.
The university also said that security guards were regularly patrolling the campus and assistance from the police is sought from time-to-time to maintain peace in the campus.
Senior officials including District Magistrate Yogeshwar Ram Mishra and Superintendent of Police (city) Dinesh Singh reached the campus along with a large posse of police.
Nearly 1500 policemen including PAC personnel have been deployed in and around the campus to maintain law and order in the campus.
The BHU students have been protesting near the universitys main gate since Thursday against the rising eve-teasing incidents on the campus.
The trigger was an incident in which a woman student of the Arts faculty alleged harassment by three men on a motorcycle inside the campus while she was returning to her hostel.
IMAGE: An injured policeman after clashes between the students and police at Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, late Saturday night. Female students at the prestigious University were protesting against the administrations alleged victim-shaming after one of them reported an incident of molestation on Thursday. Photograph: PTI Photo
The three men abused her and fled when she resisted their attempts, according to the complainant.
Sharad Yadav criticises police action Senior Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav denounced the alleged police action against Banaras Hindu University students protesting the increasing incidents of eve-teasing on the campus, and said the issue will be raised in Parliament. It has never happened before at BHU. It is sheer violation of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution, Yadav said in a statement. We will raise the issue in Parliament... It is intolerable in a democracy and the government should apologise, he said, adding people will take to the streets to protest it.
The woman alleged that security guards, about 100 metres from where the incident happened, did nothing to stop the men.
She said her warden, instead of taking up the issue with her superiors, asked her why was she was returning late to the hostel.
The wardens response angered the students colleagues, who sat on a dharna at the main gate midnight Thursday. One of the students even got her head tonsured.
BHU students have alleged they have to face eve-teasers on the campus regularly and the varsity administration was not taking any action to stop the miscreants.
Police and BHU professors tried to pacify the students on Saturday, but they refused to end their protest and sought an assurance from the university vice chancellor.
A large number of police personnel have been deployed near the campus as a security precaution, said the police.
Raj Babbar, Punia detained on way to violence-hit BHU
Congress leaders Raj Babbar and P L Punia, along with scores of party activists, were detained on Sunday when they tried to visit Banaras Hindu University where students were lathi-charged by police following overnight violence.
In the wake of the violence, the district administration issued instructions for declaring holidays from Monday till October 2 in all colleges and universities in Varanasi.
Police also detained 16 students who refused to end their dharna against the police action.
Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar and former parliamentarian Punia were stopped near Gilat Bazar by police when they were on their way to meet the protesting BHU students, a police officer said.
Police tried to stop the Congress leaders at Varanasis LalBahadurShastriAirport as soon as they landed, but they headed for the varsity along with scores of party workers.
Many Congress workers sat on a dharna on the road after the leaders were detained, blocking traffic movement.
Rahul takes dig at BJPs Beti Bachao Beti Padhao drive
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party for the lathi charge by police on girl students of the BenarasHinduUniversity, saying it was the saffron partys version of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao.
Attaching a link to a video of the students who alleged that they were beaten up by male policemen at the campus, Gandhi tweeted, BJP version of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao in BHU.
By Utpal Kumar/Mail Today: Everything about Hillary Clinton signifies struggle and hard choices, the latter being the name, and rightly so, of her 2014 memoir. Maybe her very name, Hillary, which was considered a boy's name at the time of her birth, was an allusion of things to come: Of her constant endeavour to succeed in what has predominantly been the men's world! Hillary fought her way out and had, not surprisingly, many firsts to her credit - as First Lady of Arkansas and the United States, and then the first female senator from New York. She, in 2016, became the first woman to be nominated for presidency by a major political party and had almost become the nation's first woman President. Almost! Till the Joker of Salman Rushdie's novel, The Golden House, emerged out of nowhere and took the wind out of her campaign with his visceral and often unpredictable antiestablishment and anti-immigrant postures. Hillary had ticked all the right columns for her place in the White House. "I thought I'd be a damn good President," she tells in her latest book, What Happened. And yet she lost, and that too to an apparent clown who often arouses revulsion for his ideas and mannerisms. How could this happen? How could Hillary's grand edifice built so arduously collapse like a house of cards, especially in front of Donald Trump's otherwise incoherent ideology, if there was any? So, when Hillary decides to tell "what happened" during the 2016 presidential elections, it is all but natural for the readers to get curious. No wonder over 300,000 copies got sold in the very first week of its release. But is the book worth the hype and hoopla? Sadly, the answer is a big 'No'.
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What Happened is definitely a more engaging book than Hillary's 2014 memoirs, Hard Choices, but it fails to deliver its main objective: What happened during and after the fateful elections? Why did Hillary lose the battle which she was all set to win? Hillary, in the book, remains self-obsessed and self-righteous, to the extent of blaming everyone else for her defeat. "After the election, I thought a lot about this. Maybe it's because I'm a woman, and we're not used to women running for President.
Maybe it's because my style of leadership didn't fit the times. Maybe it's because I never explained myself as bluntly as this," she explains. And as we read the 470-odd pages, we are made to realise that Hillary failed because she was too good for Americans. She failed because others ensured she failed. Interestingly, even when she concedes her mistakes, she qualifies them by saying that her ideas weren't communicated well; that history was against her presidential bid, reminding the reader how it was "difficult for either party to hold on to the White House for more than eight years in a row"; that Putin's Russia bugged the American polls. Then, of course, there was the gender issue. "Sexism and misogyny are endemic in America," she thunders, further reminding how sexism, in particular, "can be so pervasive" in the US that "we stop seeing it".
Maybe, as David F Wallace once observed, the most obvious realities are "often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about"! Sadly, Hillary herself seems to have fallen victim to the Wallace-ian syndrome: All through the book she glosses over, deliberately or otherwise, some of the most obvious realities that dented her prospect as President - that she was popularly seen as corrupt and politically compromised. But her biggest drawback was that she became synonymous with the ills associated with the American political system. She was the best - or perhaps the worst - manifestation of the 'establishment' in the US. Hillary faced Trump in the same wave of global anti-incumbency against the traditional political class that brought to the fore the likes of Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal in India, and Emmanuel Macron in France. COMING to the book, had it not been its agenda to tell us what happened during the elections, and instead inform us about the personal tidbits of Hillary and those around her, the book would have been less disappointing. For, it tells how Hillary finds time for yoga, that Bill is "a night owl" and Hillary "an early bird", and the books and movies she likes reading and watching. But on the election front, the book scores badly. Even while explaining the tension and expectations of the election night in her hotel room, all she mentions is the names of her "brothers and their families" around, how "someone sent out for whiskey", and "someone else found ice cream". Hillary was 10 years old when her ambition of becoming an astronaut was stranded - NASA said it wasn't "accepting women into the programme". Feisty as she was, Hillary turned the 'disability' into her advantage. Six decades later, she is again at a crossroads. Will she reinvent herself? Going by her frame of mind in the book, it seems difficult. But then Hillary has proved her detractors wrong many times. She may do so again.
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By PTI: Kolkata, Sep 24 (PTI) Nepal?s Rs 13,000 crore CG Corp Global, the maker of Wai Wai noodles, holds India as a key and serious market for it.
"India is a key and serious market for us," CG Corp Global Executive Director Varun Chaudhary told PTI in a interview during his brief visit to the city to unveil Wai Wai City - a noodle bar.
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Currently, the group is functioning in 30 countries.
The only billion dollar corporation of Nepal, the group has plans in real estate, infrastructure, hospitality and food park among others in India, Chaudhary said.
He, however, declined to specify the amount of investments in India.
Chaudhary said they were assessing and waiting for the right time.
He said they were very close to inaugurate the mega food park in Rajasthan.
"We are looking to inaugurate the Greentech Mega Food Park this year. This is a ?farm to fork? model. The park so far attracted Rs 200 crore and of which our group is investing Rs 100 crore in a new noodle plant," Chaudhary said.
Currently, there are 12 outlets in the country but, the same would be scaled up to 50 by December and subsequently more than 200 in the next two three years.
The group said they would expand in overseas markets like the Gulf, Canada, the USA, Germany, Indonesia and Singapore.
In India, Wai Wai noodles claims to have 27 per cent market share with a sales of Rs 600 crore. PTI BSM RG PR PR
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WATERBURY James C. Smith, chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of Webster Bank, following a distinguished career with Webster spanning more than four decades, will retire from Webster and transition to non-executive chairman.
John R. Ciulla, President, will become the companys CEO and a member of the holding companys Board of Directors. Ciulla will succeed Smith, who has served as Websters CEO since 1987, and will be the third CEO in Websters 82-year history. These changes, effective January 1, 2018, reflect the culmination of a multi-year leadership succession planning process.
It has been an honor to lead Webster and work with our community-minded, values-guided bankers as weve built Webster into the leading regional bank we are today, said Smith. Over the past 10 years in particular, weve undertaken a transformation to position Webster for continued growth as a high-performing regional bank. We have successfully developed and implemented our strategic management framework, which invests capital and resources to support strategies that create value for our customers and shareholders.
John has contributed greatly to our successful transformation based on his consistently high performance, strategic acumen and strong leadership skills, said Smith. The Board and I are proud to select an internal candidate who understands well our business segments and who is a reliable steward of Websters culture, which is centered on its values of responsibility, respectfulness, trustworthiness, citizenship and teamwork. We are confident that John is the ideal leader to advance Websters mission of helping individuals, families and businesses achieve their financial goals.
Ciulla joined Webster in 2004 as senior vice president for Middle Market Banking and has served in a variety of management positions with increasing responsibility, including as chief credit risk officer from 2008 to 2010. He was promoted to executive vice president and head of Middle Market Banking in 2011, and became head of Commercial Banking in 2014. Ciulla was appointed president of Webster in 2015, and is currently responsible for the management of most of the companys business units and support functions. Ciulla is also the president of the banks holding company and a member of the Webster Bank, N.A. Board of Directors.
Berkshire Hathaway announces new launch
WALLINGFORD Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England and Westchester Properties and Doyle Auctioneers & Appraisers recently announced the launch of Luxury Real Estate Auction Services. This exciting new capability combines Doyle's 50-plus years' experience in the auction industry with one of the world's most trusted brands, Berkshire Hathaway.
For the past 10 years, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England and Westchester Properties has partnered with Doyle to offer superior auction services for their seller's personal property. This partnership has now expanded to include residential real estate auctions.
Auctions are the most efficient and effective method of presenting property to the broadest audience of buyers in the global marketplace. Buyers are attracted to the auction knowing that the property will be offered for competitive bids on a particular date. The dynamic nature of auctions is such that the property can sell in advance of, during or following the auction.
Doyle and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices' Marketing Department will develop a strategic marketing plan for each home to be auctioned. This comprehensive campaign will be implemented across multiple platforms, ensuring that both the home and the upcoming auction receive the broadest exposure, nationally and internationally. The new program offers a choice of two auction formats: a live auction event and a timed online-only auction.
The live auction event can be held at the property, at a Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices office, at Doyle, or at another venue. A range of live bidding capabilities will be offered, ensuring that all interested buyers can conveniently participate in the auction.
The timed online-only auction will take place on Doyle.com for a designated period of time. Buyers can place their bids online in competition against one another until the bidding period closes.
Auction services take place in addition to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices' regular sales activities and marketing initiatives including listing syndication, advertising, open houses and tours of the property to interested parties. The sales agent will also collaborate on the vetting of bidders and conduct negotiations regarding contract and sale of the property on the day of the auction.
The new Luxury Real Estate Auction Services is available immediately to homeowners in Connecticut, and Westchester County, New York. For further information, contact your local Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices office or agent, or visit bhhsNEproperties.com.
For more information contact:Melissa Sauer, Marketing Coordinator at 860-571-7065.
CHH welcomes new board members
TORRINGTON Charlotte Hungerford Hospital has announced the appointment of Maria Coutant Skinner and Douglas K. OConnell, Esq., to serve two-year terms on the hospitals Board of Governors.
We are so pleased to welcome Maria and Doug to our board of dedicated and seasoned members. I know that their commitment to our community and expertise in their respective fields will serve Charlotte well.
said John Janco, Chairman of the Charlotte Hungerford Hospital Board of Governors.
Maria Coutant Skinner is a licensed clinical social worker and executive director of the McCall Center for Behavioral Health. Maria earned her Bachelors degree in psychology from Springfield College and a Master's degree in social work at UCONN. Originally from Torrington, she is deeply committed to Litchfield County and serves as co-chair of the Litchfield County Opiate Task Force, is a board member of the Rotary Club of the Torrington and Winsted areas, is a volunteer and board member with the Winchester Youth Service Bureau and the Canton Youth Service Bureau, and an advisor to Litchfield Bancorp. Maria began working at the McCall Center in 1997 as part of the prevention team. Her lifes work includes developing programs for children, adolescents, adults and families with the goal of building capacity to cope with challenging life situations and make positive life changes. Maria and her husband Greg live in Canton with their daughters Emma and Abigail.
Doug is a partner at the Winsted law firm of Howd, Lavieri & Finch, LLP, where his practice focuses on estate planning, trust and estate administration, probate matters and tax planning for the principals of closely held businesses. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and received his law degree from Western New England College School of Law and a master of law degree in taxation from New York University School of Law. Doug was recently elected to the Board of Directors of Northwest Community Bank having served as an advisory board member and a Corporator of Connecticut Mutual Holding Company for numerous years. Doug is also actively involved in many local and civic charitable organizations, and has served and currently serves on many local boards including the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation, United Way of Northwest Connecticut, The Chamber of Commerce of Northwest Connecticut, the Torrington Board of Education, and the Rotary Club of the Torrington and Winsted areas where he was named Paul Harris Fellow in 2007. Doug and his wife Linda reside in Torrington.
Maria and Doug join the following current members of the Charlotte Hungerford Hospital Board of Governors: Edward Arum, Edwin G. (Chip) Booth Jr., Jeff Borghesi, Debra Brandt, DO, Frank R. Buonocore Jr., Gladys Cerruto, Richard Dutton, MD, Stephanie K. Fowler, MD, Jamie Gregg, Kenrick Hom, MD, John Janco, John Lavieri, Diane Libby, CPA, and James OLeary.
The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital is a 109 bed, general acute care hospital located in Torrington, Connecticut, that serves as a regional health care resource for 100,000 residents of Litchfield County and Northwest Connecticut. CHH offers personalized attention from an expert team of caregivers and physicians that utilize advanced technology and clinical partnerships in a convenient, safe and comfortable patient environment. One Thousand Caregivers, One Job, Your Health. Visit www.charlottehungerford.org for information.
Abigail Miranda, Josh Weinshank named New Leaders in the Law
NEW MILFORD Cramer & Anderson Partner Josh Weinshank and Associate Abigail Miranda have been named 2017 New Leaders in the Law as part of the Connecticut Law Tribunes annual statewide Professional Excellence Awards.
This years New Leaders in the Law were announced Aug. 28. Professional Excellence Awards winners will be honored at the Connecticut Legal Awards Dinner Oct. 3 at the Bond Room in Hartford.
There are 25 recipients of the New Leader award this year, hailing from law firms throughout the state and covering varied areas of the law, from litigation to criminal defense, probate and education law, the Connecticut Law Tribune (CLT) said in announcing the winners online. They were chosen by outside nominations and internal review.
In nominating Attorney Weinshank, Partner Ken Taylor said he represents the epitome of a New Leader in the Law by engaging in high-caliber volunteer community service as a way of giving back, while also laying the groundwork for cultivating new clients and driving growth and success for the firm.
In 2016 Attorney Weinshank was appointed to the new Planned Giving Advisory Council formed by Ability Beyond, the Connecticut organization helping thousands of people with physical and mental disabilities discover their abilities and become a part of their communities. Less than a year later, based on his leadership, Attorney Weinshank became Co-Chair of the committee.
Earlier this year, Attorney Weinshank was named to the Associate Board of the Danbury Hospital & New Milford Hospital Foundation. Directors work with Foundation staff to foster charitable giving in support of the mission of the hospitals and their parent entity, Western Connecticut Health Network.
The role is more vital than ever in a time when hospitals seem to be under assault from state and national governments, leaving hospital foundation boards with heightened responsibility to raise funds for services, programs and initiatives, including efforts to support doctors and for new technology.
Both of these recent leadership roles dovetail with Attorney Weinshanks primary Practice Areas, Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Administration, and Elder Law & Special Needs. Though he is the firms youngest Partner, Attorney Weinshank is leading a bold plan for Cramer & Anderson to grow those Practice Areas strategically in Fairfield County.
The drive to help others selflessly, and to capitalize on challenging opportunities to elevate the firm, make Attorney Weinshank a perfect choice for a New Leaders in the Law award, Attorney Taylor said in nominating Attorney Weinshank.
In nominating Attorney Miranda, Partner John Tower cited her highly engaged caring as the attribute responsible for helping a young Associate blossom into a leader in client service, pro bono and reduced fee work, and volunteer community service.
Attorney Mirandas primary Practice Areas are Divorce & Family Law, Personal Injury Law and Civil Litigation, and Attorney Tower offered examples of the intersection of that highly engaged caring with impressive results.
On the Connecticut Legal Services, Inc. list of attorneys dedicated to helping those in need, Attorney Miranda took a pro bono custody case to trial in the summer of 2016. She secured a significant modification to a custody agreement for a woman who had been allowed to see her child only in a clinical setting.
In an ongoing pro bono custody case, attorney Miranda is advocating for a mother seeking a safe environment in which to reunite with her child. The former spouse was abusive, and proceeding is complex.
Within the past year, Miranda has also become a force in community service. She was named to the board of the Womens Center of Greater Danbury in November 2016, and was recently asked to join the board of the Greater New Milford Chamber of Commerce.
In the Womens Center leadership role, Attorney Miranda is guiding networking events and fundraising for a capital campaign that will support a new shelter in Danbury, among other important initiatives.
These efforts and others mentioned by Attorney Tower have also made Attorney Miranda a leader in fostering growth for Cramer & Anderson. The selfless caring she exudes, her genuine nature and the feeling of trust she instantly creates position her to naturally develop clients and cases.
Tough but compassionate, a beacon for the firm in essential community volunteer roles, dedicated to taking pro bono cases to aid and empower women in need, relentless in pursuing optimal outcomes but always collaborative, cordial and diplomatic, Attorney Miranda is truly a New Leader in the Law, Attorney Tower wrote in his nomination letter.
Both attorneys may be reached at 860-355-2631. Attorney Weinshanks email is jweinshank@crameranderson.com and Attorney Mirandas is amiranda@crameranderson.com.
The firm has offices in New Milford, Danbury, Litchfield, Washington Depot and Kent. For more information, call the New Milford office at 860-355-2631 or see the website at www.crameranderson.com.
During the American Revolution many local state militia units were created to help defend the rights of the colonies. The 2nd Connecticut Light Horse (1777), a militia unit from Connecticut, fought in support of the American cause.
Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_militia_units_in_the_American_Revolutionary_War
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Robert Weaver of Newport took first place for his shot Owl, in the NWR photo contest wildlife category.
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By PTI: uranium reserve
New Delhi, Sep 24 (PTI) India is engaging with various countries, including Uzbekistan, to procure nuclear fuel as part of its plan to create a strategic uranium reserve to ensure long-term security.
The plan is to have a stockpile of nuclear fuel for its strategic uranium reserve that can sustain the countrys reactors for the next five years so that they do not stop functioning because of the lack of uranium.
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In the past, the Indian power reactors were under- performing due to shortage of uranium, owing to the sanctions imposed by the West post 1974 Pokhran nuclear tests.
Talks are currently being held with Uzbekistan, a senior government official said, and a delegation from the Central Asian country had visited India last month to discuss the issue in detail.
The delegation came just two months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Astana in June this year, said a senior Ministry of External Affairs official, on condition of anonymity.
"We have been looking to import uranium from Uzbekistan in the past. Back then, they had refused to transport uranium to an Indian port. But now they have agreed to do so and negotiations are on," said a senior government official requesting anonymity.
According to the World Nuclear Association, an international organisation that represents the global nuclear industry, the landlocked Central Asian country is the seventh largest exporter of uranium in the world.
Attempts are also being made to procure uranium from Australia. A nuclear cooperation pact between the two nations was signed in 2014 and came into force in 2015.
Uranium mining in Australia is mostly done by private players.
However, a senior government official pointed out that Australian uranium is "impure" in nature.
"We have got nearly a kilogramme of uranium from Australia. This is being tested by the Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad to determine the price of the uranium. We are hopeful that the uranium import starts by next year," the official added.
Indias concerns to have a stockpile of nuclear fuel emanate from the time when its atomic reactors functioned below its capacity level due to the shortage of uranium.
The US and other nations had imposed sanctions on India following the Pokhran nuclear tests in 1974.
Post Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement, New Delhis quest to have an uranium reserve got traction as importing fuel became much easier.
Apart from domestic production, India currently imports uranium from Kazakhstan and Canada. This is primarily used to fuel its indigenously built Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors.
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It procures enriched uranium from Russia for its two Boiling Water Reactors at Tarapur in Maharashtra. As part of its contract, Russia also supplies uranium to fuel the two reactors at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu.
Apart from it, it has agreements in place to import uranium from Namibia and Mongolia.
The government recently approved 10 Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors with a capacity to generate 7000 MW. Work on four reactors with a capacity of 1000 MW each is in progress, apart from seven domestic reactors.
"We will now have 21 reactors under construction and 22 reactors in operation. This will increase the capacity to over 22,000 MWe by the end of next decade. We shall continue to add more capacity in future," Sekhar Basu, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) secretary and chairman of the Atomic Energy said at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) general conference at Vienna last week.
The IAEA is a global nuclear watchdog, with its headquarters in Vienna. PTI PR PYK ASK
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CHARLOTTESVILLE A lawsuit against an Albemarle County police officer accused of targeting African-American men for stops and intrusive searches likely will move forward to a jury trial later this year.
Attorneys representing Officer Andrew Holmes and the county recently filed a motion for summary judgment, asking the court to rule that the plaintiffs, Bianca Johnson and Delmar Canada, have no case because there are no facts at issue.
In federal court in Charlottesville on Thursday, Judge Glen Conrad heard arguments from both sides, but did not immediately make a ruling.
The lawsuit stems from a traffic stop conducted by Holmes on April 26, 2014. Parked near the 7-Eleven on Greenbrier Drive, Holmes was running the license plates of vehicles in the parking lot through a records system.
When he ran the plates of a BMW through the system, it showed the car was registered to Bianca Johnson. Remembering her name from a prior call for service, Holmes then searched other police databases for people associated with her.
A man named Delmar Canada showed up in his search, along with Canadas photograph, and information that his license was suspended. When Canada came out of the 7-Eleven and drove the car away, Holmes initiated a traffic stop.
After a short interaction with Canada, Holmes issued the man a traffic citation for driving while on a suspended license.
The next day, Holmes obtained a search warrant for the home shared by Canada and Johnson, his fiancee, to search for the suspension notification paperwork mailed to Canada about a year ago by the DMV. He executed the search five days later about 11 p.m., but did not find the paperwork he was seeking.
According to attorneys on both sides, this was the first time in recollected memory that an officer had conducted such a search.
By PTI: Islamabad, Sep 24 (PTI) Pakistani authorities were left embarrassed today when a flag similar to the one used by Islamic State militants and with a message in support of Caliphate was put up on a busy road here.
Authorities took action after a citizen informed police on its emergency number that a black flag used by the dreaded militant outfit was waving on a pedestrian bridge on the Islamabad Express road.
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Police later removed the trademark flag with inscribed message - Khilafat is coming.
Interior minister Ahsan Iqbal took notice and asked Islamabads Inspector General of Police to probe the matter and file a report.
However, Sattar Shah, Station House Officer of Khanna police station, said the police have not found any clue about who was responsible for putting up the flag.
Pakistan has repeatedly denied any organised presence of Islamic State (ISIS) in the country, but acknowledge that there might be some sympathisers in the country.
Army has already launched Operation Raddul Fassad to eliminate the supporters of the militants. PTI SH MRJ
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A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
All three militants have been eliminated by the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir.
By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: Even before the snowfall in the upper reaches of the mountains in Uri, Pakistan yet again attempted to push in heavily armed terrorists into Kashmir.
Infiltrated lashkar fidayeen were killed in heavy gun battle after locals informed local police in Uri today. Police said the deceased planned a Uri encounter re run.
DGP SP Vaid told India today " The trio were part of suicide attack who wanted to unleash an Uri style attack."
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But in one of the first kind input from alert villagers near the Line of Control (LoC) , Jammu Kashmir Police was at 9pm informed about suspicious movement of terrorists who were heavily armed in Kalgai area of Salamabad inUri. The spot is nearly 3 kilometers away from the main town, which was a site of a fidayeen attack on September 18 by Lashkar group in which 20 Army personnel were martyred. It is 12 kilometers from Kaman post.
A massive joint search operation was launched during the night. Terrorist were tracked down at around 2.30 am. While one of the terrorists had forcibly entered into a civilian home and had taken the family members as hostage. In the early morning, the civilians were rescued and the terrorist was eliminated.
Hunt for two other terrorists was launched and one terrorist was found to have taken refuge in a local mosque.
This put forces in dilemma. Keeping religious sentiment and the sanctity of the mosque finally a Jammu and Kashmir Police team entered into the mosque and eliminated this terrorist as well.
The third terrorist was also killed later on.
DIG Baramulla range, Nitish Kumar told India today "JK Police is highly indebted and grateful to brave local population of Uri for informing us well in time helping us to avert a major terror attack."
According to sources "All the three terrorists appear to be from Pakistan" and with their elimination a major terrorist attack has been averted.
The group is believed to have recently infiltrated from Pakistani side of LoC. The operation was conducted by joint teams of Army, Police and CRPF.
Three AK series rifles, 10 AK Magazines, 10 Grenades, one UBGL and other war like stores were recovered from their possession .
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BREAKS The bull elk stood alone in a field just before dusk, and peed all over himself.
Its his way of courting females, and a van of tourists couldnt take their eyes off him, either. After more than 150 years of silence, the sound of bugling bulls echoes over the hills. Its rutting season in far Southwest Virginia, where a five-year-old elk restoration project attracts visitors and delights wildlife enthusiasts.
The randy bull in the field of a privately-owned reclaimed strip mine site 13 miles from Breaks Interstate Park is one of 200 elk that today range over parts of Buchanan County. They were stocked there by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries beginning in 2012. They range into Wise and Dickenson counties, where they also are protected from hunting.
One pregnant female has been seen at Breaks, but so far few elk have wandered into the mature forest that covers the 5,000-acre park, Superintendent Austin Bradley said.
Through a partnership with the Southwest Virginia Coalfields Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, guides take park visitors to the old mine site in April and May during calving season, and during the breeding season from August through October.
The goal is to drive tourism to the area, Bradley said. This area has been reeling from the decline of coal. Breaks is taking an active role in revitalizing the economy.
Established in 1954, Breaks Park straddles the border of Virginia and Kentucky and is managed by a commission comprised of officials from both states. It is one of two such "interstate" parks in the country. The other sits on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Breaks centerpiece is its 1,000-foot-deep gorge gouged out of Pine Mountain by the Russell Fork River. It has between 250,000 and 300,000 visitors annually. Bradley hopes to draw more with dozens of amenities, such as a new 2,200-foot long, 300-foot high zip line along the gorge rim thats set to open on Sept. 30. And the elk tours have been good for the park, too.
Elk can also be seen on public property in the countys Poplar Gap Park, DGIF elk project leader David Kalb said.
Homecoming
After more than a century of study and failed efforts to bring elk back from extinction in Virginia, in 2012, DGIF worked with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and other partners to stock the animals on the reclaimed mine site nearby Breaks Park. Over three years, the state brought in about 75 elk from Kentuckys 11,000-strong herd. The project cost about $1 million, with a portion of the funds coming from private entities, Kalb said.
Kalb said Kentuckys herd has remained free of the major diseases that worry cattle farmers: tuberculosis, brucellosis and chronic wasting disease. Farmers also worry about elk breaking livestock fencing and competing with their cattle for forage, Kalb said.
Originally, DGIF intended to stock elk in Dickenson and Wise counties, too, but they resisted the effort and the animals were released only in Buchanan. But Wise and Dickenson counties are designated as part of the restoration zone, and elk cant be legally hunted the three-county area.
Restoring elk offers sport and high-quality, organic meat to hunters, and the project is expected to drive tourism both for hunting and wildlife viewing, Kalb said. They also are a natural part of the ecosystem thats been missing for generations.
North American elk remains dated to 20,000 years ago have been documented in northwestern Virginia, according to DGIF. Elk ranged across most of the state and were most common in the Allegheny and Blue Ridge mountains. Explorers in the late 1600s described abundant elk herds, particularly in the Shenandoah and New River valleys.
With European settlement came habitat destruction and overhunting. The last wild Eastern elk in Virginia is thought to have been killed by Col. Gos Tuley of Clarke County in 1855. By the 1870s, the entire Eastern subspecies was extinct across its range.
Before settlers arrived, more than 10 million elk lived in the United States and parts of Canada, according to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Today, about one million elk live in the western United States, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina, and from Ontario west in Canada.
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife began that states restoration in 1997 and by 2002 had stocked 1,550 wild western elk imported from Utah, Kansas, Oregon, North Dakota, Arizona and New Mexico. Today at least 11,000 elk graze across and estimated 4 million acres in 16 Eastern Kentucky counties. It is considered the largest wild elk population east of the Rocky Mountains.
And elk dont respect state lines. Following the stocking near the Virginia border, between 50 and 100 Kentucky migrants are thought to have crossed over. Efforts to trap and deport them were expensive and eventually discontinued. Virginia was going to have manage elk anyway. Then it started its own stocking project.
Leon Boyd, president of the Southwest Virginia Coalfields chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has been a major force behind restoration. He grew up one ridge over from the mine site and has hiked and hunted the surrounding hills for decades. In 2000, he went to New Mexico for an elk hunt "and I fell in love with it," he said.
Now Boyd does a lot of elk hunting at home with his high-end binoculars. He spends a good amount of time on a tractor, too, making sure the sites pastures are full of native wildflowers, warm-season grasses, clovers and other natural forage. That work has attracted a lot of other wildlife, including wild turkey and pollinators, Boyd said.
And there are other rewards.
"To do something like this and pass it on to your kids it's pretty special to see it," Boyd said.
Managing a growing herd
Virginia has completed its stocking efforts.
"We are allowing nature to do its thing now, they will reproduce on their own, Kalb, the project leader, wrote in an email. Its just a rather slow process. Right now we are seeing good recruitment numbers and we are seeing excellent health in the animals that we have.
Originally, the state proposed a restored herd of 1,200, but resistance led to a plan for a herd of no more than 400, according to DGIF documents. So far, there have been few problems with elk. DGIF has handled seven complaints since 2012, according to Kalb. Two were about damage to fencing, two were related to agriculture, two calls claimed the elk were too close to the public and one call was about damage to grass, he wrote in an email.
So far the 200-strong herd has remained in a seven-mile radius of the mine site, according to Kalb. To keep elk away from farm fields and pastures, hunters outside of the three-county restoration zone may legally harvest elk during deer season, using a deer tag. Since stocking began, two elk in Virginia have been legally killed, Kalb wrote in an email. But, in the past 3 years there have been no legal harvests of elk in Virginia.
There have been several instances of poaching, however, both inside and outside the restoration area, according to Kalb. The number remains small and wont affect the overall population, he added.
Aside from ecological benefits, wildlife can be a big economic diver.
DGIF estimated that in 2006 hunting and wildlife contributed $1.4 billion in economic activity, and elk could add to that total. Kentucky has allowed elk hunting by permit since 2001, and according to a 2015 report, estimates are that it brings in $3 million annually. The state has no estimate for the value of tourism from passive elk viewing, but out-of-state visitors drawn to the restoration zone are estimated to spend $480 each.
Virginia's restoration has been a long time coming. In 1917, the newly-minted Virginia Game Commission began importing elk from Yellowstone National Park to reestablish herds, placing animals in 11 counties, according to DGIF documents. Other introductions were made in Bath, Augusta and Rockingham. But they didnt gain a foothold. By 1926, small herds remained only in Giles, Bland and Bedford. By 1970, they had all died out.
But elk seem destined to regain their old home range as interest in them grows. West Virginia is in the second year of stocking a seven-county restoration area in its Southern Coal Fields Region.
So many more could have been injured in the Sopore grenade attack - or even killed - if it hadn't been for one Special Police Officer (SPO). Read on to find out why.
By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: Two security personnel and a civilian were injured in a grenade attack, allegedly planned by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), near a State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Kashmir's Sopore.
But so many more could have been injured, or even killed, if it hadn't been for a Special Police Officer (SPO), who was one of those who suffered minor injuries.
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For it was his lightning-quick reflexes which made sure that the live grenade that fell into his bunker, manned by other police and CRPF personnel, didn't explode inside it.
The SPO didn't panic when the grenade fell into his lap. He threw it out, saving the lives of at least 15 people.
SSP Harmeet Singh told India Today that the SPO will be suitably rewarded. And he'll also be inducted into the force as a constable.
The Sopore Police have blamed the attack on the LeT, a Pakistan-based terrorist group led by 26/11 attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
The LeT has an almost negligible presence in North Kashmir, and the group appears to have hired a local for a hit job.
Meanwhile, an encounter between terrorists and security forces is under way in Kashmir's Uri. One terrorist has already been killed. Jammu and Kashmir DGP SP Vaid says they were planning an attack similar to the one that claimed the lives of 19 jawans last September.
VIDEO: Sushma Swaraj, India's external affairs minister, excoriated Pakistan for its covert support of terrorism in a hard-hitting speech at the UN General Assembly on Saturday.
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November 27, 1964 September 20, 2017 William Matthew Hart, 52, of Christiansburg, Va., died Wednesday, September 20, 2017. Matt was born in Christiansburg, November 27, 1964, to the late Henry Goldman Hart Jr. and the late Ann Daingerfield Hart. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother, Rex Hart. Matt is survived by a sister and brother-in-law, Pam and Wayne King; a sister, Fran Hart, all of Christiansburg; a sister and brother-in-law, Sydney and Hugh Thomson of Myrtle Beach, S.C.; a nephew and niece-in-law, Mickey and Joni King; a nephew and niece-in-law, Jon and Mitzi King all of Christiansburg; a nephew, Forrest Hart of Pulaski; a nephew, Michael Robertson and a niece, Chandon Thomson of Myrtle Beach; and a niece, Shannon Hart. Also surviving are a grandnephew, Ashton King, a grandniece, Peyton King, and grandniece, Parker Hart Pattishall, all of Christiansburg. In addition, Matt is survived by his beloved Jack Russell Terrier, Sammy; two canine nephews, Max and Cooper; and a canine niece, Kate. Other survivors include many cherished cousins and friends.Matt worked in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. His greatest joys came from writing and from seeing others participate in the learning process. Matt was honored to engage in both activities during his lifetime.In accordance with his wishes, Matt was cremated and his cremains will be scattered privately. A celebration of his life will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 1301 Gladewood Road, Blacksburg, VA, on Sunday, October 1, 2017, at 2 p.m.In lieu of flowers, any memorial contributions may be made to Christiansburg Head Start, c/o New River Community Action, 110 Roanoke Street, Christiansburg, VA 24073; the Women's Resource Center, P.O. Box 477, Radford, VA 24141; or to the charity of your choice. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.hornefuneralservice.com.
By Todd Pillion
Pillion, a Republican, represents Dickenson County, Russell County, and parts of Washington and Wise counties in the House of Delegates.
The news prompted an outpouring of pitches: Amazon is looking for an additional headquarters location. Every city was quick to highlight why they should be the (second) home to the global commerce giant. However, marketing efforts aside, the anticipated winner of the Amazon lottery will probably be a usual suspect: maybe San Jose, Boston, or Austin. Obviously, as a private company with its own bottom line to consider, Amazon will make the decision it believes best for its interests.
However, as a legislator representing Southwest Virginia, and as the father of four children who I hope will have the same opportunity to raise their own families here, I would be remiss if I didnt take this moment to ask a larger question to Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, or any entrepreneur out there today: If youre looking for your next location, why not think bigger? Dont just revolutionize our economy; revolutionize our country.
Southwest Virginia is home to thousands of men and women who simply cant be outworked. We do, though, face a lot of challenges. While other parts of the Commonwealth deal with population growth, here were encountering the reverse: the population of the Coalfields Region is poised to drop by 8 percent over the next 20 years.
The reason for this decline is straightforward: people are moving away to find work. As Qian Cai at the University of Virginias Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service said in a Richmond Times-Dispatch article, The people who migrate are younger, and they move out of the rural areas for educational or job opportunities. And when they move, they bring their families or start their families in these destinations.
The out-migration from Southwest Virginia is a tragedy, and it stems primarily from the ongoing decline of the coal industry. But this is a region hungry to reverse the tide, and primed to do so, with just a little help and some vision. What we need are companies who also believe this is an effort worth undertaking; that our nation is stronger when all regions prosper, not just a few fortunate communities.
Already we have seen companies stepping up. One is Dominion Energy. During the last session of the General Assembly, I was joined by Delegate Terry Kilgore (R-Scott County) and Senator Ben Chafin (R-Russell County) in sponsoring legislation to look into the feasibility of constructing a pumped hydroelectric storage facility in the Coalfields. The construction of such a facility would bring renewable energy to our region, while spurring economic development and job creation. Dominion, to its credit, is now moving forward to get this facility built. It is bringing 21st century jobs to Southwest Virginia.
In 2007, CGI opened their Southwest Virginia Technology Center in Lebanon. Since that opening the Center has created moret han 400 new jobs, and led to an annual economic impact of $68.5 million. What CGI and Dominion have recognized is that Southwest Virginia provides the best of both worlds: the workforce talent they seek, combined with cheap land and a low cost of doing business. And we are just getting started.
The University of Virginia at Wise is a sleeping giant when it comes to its potential to fuel and sustain the economic growth of the future, and the school will be growing in both size and academic offerings in the years ahead. That means a built-in, well-trained workforce will be right here, ready to go. In addition, broadband access continues to expand area-wide, making once physically remote areas now just a click away from anywhere on the globe.
Furthermore, the willingness of localities to work together is a benefit of the region. While each local government has unique challenges, we all suffer when it comes to jobs and revenue. With that mentality, our coalfield localities are in the process of forming entities that would allow for revenue sharing in economic development projects. Depending on the specific project, localities would have the opportunity to work together to lift up the region and each participating locality.
All the necessary components are in place for economic growth in Southwest Virginia. We have the workforce, the higher education hub, and other key supports and infrastructure. Now we need investors and entrepreneurs to join companies like Dominion and CGI in believing in this beautiful part of the world.
I get that its easy for companies to set up shop in communities that are already prosperous. But it would be truly transformative to locate here. Southwest Virginia is ready for that transformation.
The place: The Virginia Historical Society, in the fashionable Fan District of Richmond.
The occasion: A white-haired gentleman is on stage, delivering a lecture about the history of Virginia.
This would seem to be Virginia in its most venerable form, except for one thing. The speaker on this sleepy summer day isnt droning on about the genealogy of some Founding Father, or the minutiae of some Civil War battle.
Instead, August Wallmeyer is laying out, one eye-popping slide at a time, some of the starkest facts and figures about contemporary Virginia.
On poverty: In Wise County today, more than 50 percent of the people who live there receive one or more forms of government assistance.
On drug addiction: The number of opioid deaths equals a Virginia Tech massacre every week.
On health: If you live in Wise County . . . your life expectancy will be less than if you lived in Nicaragua or Uzbekistan or Latvia or Serbia or Algeria or Colombia.
This is not some happy, gauzy remembrance of the good old days. These are irrefutable data points about Virginia today. Or, more accurately, about rural Virginia.
Wallmeyer would seem to be the very embodiment of a Richmond insider, a creature not quite as despised as a Washington insider, but surely a related species. He has spent virtually his entire career in and around the centers of state power. He was a speechwriter for Attorney General Tony Troy, a Democrat, in the 1970s. He was the corporate spokesman and lobbyist for Virginia Power (now Dominion Energy) at a time when the utility was much more controversial than it is now. He went to become executive director for the Virginia Independent Power Producers, which is a fancy way of staying he was still a lobbyist.
From the mid-1970s until his retirement in 2014, Wallmeyer was known around Capitol Square as a firm but jovial advocate for whatever cause he was hired to represent. He was the type of lobbyist that any interest group would have been lucky to sign on, which is what makes Wallmeyers current endeavor so remarkable.
Today, hes essentially representing the most underrepresented and underprivileged interest group of all. Hes representing rural Virginia. And hes doing it for free.
After he retired, Wallmeyer faced the kind of unsettling adjustment that many retirees do. He was bored. After a while, I tried to take stock of whatever assets I had and to think about what I could do with them, Wallmeyer says.
He threw himself into a research project. For years, hed heard legislators talk about how rural Virginia was falling behind the rest of the state. A good lobbyist deals with facts, so Wallmeyer starting digging into whatever data he could find. Economic data. Health data. Crime data. He assembled it. He crunched it. He compared it. And he was shocked by what he found. There really are two Virginias a growing, affluent one in the urban crescent and a shrinking, poorer one everywhere else. Thats hardly a revelation, of course, but Wallmeyer found himself sitting atop a mountain of data that nobody had ever really collected in one place before.
Now what?
The teachings of my faith [Roman Catholicism] started nagging at me, Wallmeyer says. He started to feel compelled to do something. He decided to write a book.
The result is The Extremes of Virginia, published last year by Dementi Milestone Publishing, and a related website, extremesofvirginia.com (where you can also order a copy). Former Del. Ward Armstrong of Henry County, a Democrat, calls the book a brutally accurate diagnosis of economic disparity in the state. State Sen. Bill Stanley of Franklin, a Republican, says Augusts blunt assessments and sharp insight are spot-on. Former Gov. Gerald Baliles, a Democrat, calls it required reading for legislators and governors, in particular.
Excerpts of the book have been published in The Roanoke Times and the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The 2,000 or so copies hes sold wont make Wallmeyer any money, but thats not really the point. Perhaps more than anyone else, Wallmeyer had started a conversation in the state capital about the economic and social problems that plague many rural parts of Virginia. He was asked to speak to the Virginia Historical Society. Hes lecturing this fall at the University of Richmond. Hes heard that one state Supreme Court justice has used the book as teaching material in his Sunday school class.
It may seem odd to us west of the Blue Ridge that a book pointing out the obvious should be so popular, as if all this were somehow a new discovery. However, Wallmeyer points out something else that is also obvious: There is a profound lack of understanding about Southwest, Southside and the Eastern Shore among government officials. In his talk before the historical society, Wallmeyer noted that more than half the members of the General Assembly werent born in Virginia. They simply dont know the state outside the urban crescent and have little reason to learn about it.
For that audience, Wallmeyer delivers a kind of shock treatment about the Virginia they dont know, yet share. He talks about how school systems in Southwest Virginia are so poor they have to keep tabs on how much paper they use for tests. He talks about how dentists at the annual open-air medical clinic at the Wise County Fairgrounds measure one year to the next by the buckets of teeth they extract. He tells of places where meth and opioids are so common that you can have them delivered right to your front door just like a pizza, and you can pay for it with a credit card. He marshals a quote from the chancellor of the state community college system about how if rural Virginia were its own state, it would rank dead last in the country in terms of educational attainment while the urban crescent would rank second.
This is not a pretty picture, and it may strike even some who live in rural Virginia as not reflective of the communities they know. Yet the data is there, which goes to show that even some in rural Virginia may not know their communities very well.
So what happens next? Its unclear. Wallmeyer is out there raising awareness, but solving the economic problems of rural Virginia are ones that may take a generation. In the meantime, go buy Wallmeyers book. You might even make it required reading for your Sunday school class.
AIADMK leader Dindugul Sreenivasan on Friday alleged he was forced to lie about 'Amma's' demise. Last week, he said VK Sasikala's family was responsible for her death.
By Pramod Madhav: DMK Working President MK Stalin has called for a CBI probe into former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's death, two days after AIADMK leader Dindugul Sreenivasan alleged he was forced to lie about 'Amma's' demise.
Last week, Sreenivasan said VK Sasikala's family was responsible for her death. Sasikala was Jayalalithaa's closest confidante.
MK Stalin, the de-facto leader of Tamil Nadu's largest Opposition party, today lambasted AIADMK leaders, pointing out inconsistencies in the narrative about Jayalalithaa's death.
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"A minister under constitutional oath claims that nobody, including the Governor, had met her...it is evident that Deputy Chief Minister OPS (O Panneerselvam), who acquired the CM portfolio then, was involved too. How did she (Jayalalithaa) advise the Governor to transfer her portfolios to OPS on October 10, 2016?" he asked.
"The whole government was shifted to Apollo hospital. How did CM EPS (Edappadi Palaniswami) and Deputy CM OPS tolerate these atrocities back then? Even after saying that a probe would be initiated on her death, why had no steps been taken yet?"
'DHARM YUDDH OVER?'
Stalin asked if Panneerselvam, who called for a central probe into Jayalalithaa's death when his faction was still at loggerheads with Palaniswami's, had forgotten all about his 'dharm yuddh.'
"I can feel the anxiety of EPS and OPS to divert attention from Dindigul Srinivasan's speech. AIIMS doctors were involved. even Health Minister JP Nadda said extreme attention was being given to Jayalalitha's treatment. As the central government is also involved...in Jayalalitha's treatment, it is now its responsibility to bring out the secrets...(it) should immediately begin a CBI inquiry." Stalin said.
Neither Palaniswami nor Panneerselvam have responded to Stalin yet.
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The founder of the Russian mining science, mineralogy and chemistry, Mikhail Lomonosov, in his treatise "The First Foundations of Metallurgy or Ore Mining" (1763) predicted the possibility of discovering diamonds in Russia's "midnight lands," having stated this in his book On the Layers of the Earth: ... In the north ... we cannot doubt that diamonds could have happened there ... and they can be found. His prophecy came true in the 1980s, when the first primary diamond deposit on the Winter Coast of the Onega Peninsular was discovered and named after Mikhail Lomonosov.
In archival materials, there are references to the discovery of a diamond in the 18th century on the Severnaya Dvina River near the village of Orletsy.
In the 1950s, single crystals of diamond and its satellite minerals were found during a geological survey in the channel sediments of Mezen Pizhma, near the village of Nenoksa (1967-69), in the four first explosion pipes in the European part of Russia composed of alkaline-ultrabasic rocks related to kimberlites. The same type of pipes was found on the Kola Peninsula in the Kandalaksha Bay area.
The garnets discovered in 1974 on the Winter Bank of the Onega Peninsular in the channel sediments and beach sands of the White Sea were diagnosed as pyropes in 1975, the genetic satellites of diamonds. A peculiar kind of rocks identified as kimberlites were discovered in 1975 on the Mela River.
The Pomorskaya kimberlite pipe, the first in this area, was uncovered in 1980. In the 1980s, there were discovered new diamond pipes in the vicinity of Pomorskaya - Lomonosovskaya, Arkhangelskaya, Karpinskaya, Snegurochka, Pionerskaya and others.
The Arkhangelsk Diamond Province (ADP), Europe's first diamondiferous province of primary diamond deposits, is located on the northern outskirts of the European part of Russia. It is confined to the north-west of the Russian Plate (part of the Mezen Syneclise) and the Baltic Shield (the Tersky Shore of the Kola Peninsula) of the East European Craton (EEC). The unifying sign of the vast majority of ADP magmatic bodies is their occurrence in the form of explosion pipes with a sharply subordinate development of sills and dikes. Currently, there have been identified two diamond deposits, one named after Mikhail Lomonosov and the other after Vladimir Grib. The ADP includes a variety of volcanic manifestations developed along the coast of the White Sea: on the Winter and Summer Coasts of the Onega Peninsula an on the Tersky Coast of the Kola Peninsula. The manifestations of volcanism are confined to narrow linear uplifts and deflections of the northwestern strike in the ancient Archean-Early Proterozoic (more ancient than 1650 million years) granite-gneiss crystalline basement of the Russian Plate.
The kimberlite rocks of the ADP deposits are characterized by uneven distribution of diamonds in both horizontal and vertical sections. In general, the existing pipes belong to bodies with large diamonds, they have a geological structure that is classical for light-eroded kimberlite pipes - with clearly distinguished crater and vent parts. The thick (up to 120 m) crater part is composed of subhorizontal layers and bundles of various volcaniclastic, volcanocrystalline and simple sedimentary rocks - from quartz clay sandstones and breccia sedimentary rocks to tuffites and tuffs of kimberlites, their lower part containing thin injections of kimberlites.
A junior exploration company in Russia is a commercial entity. This is usually a small company, which is characterized by the following features: control of the company is carried out by one or more individuals; the company conducts geological exploration works (GEW) on one or several promising areas of the subsoil; it does not have real estate and does not generate income from other spheres of activity (including mining); the main goal of the company is to achieve a sharp increase in the market value of the allocated subsoil plot by increasing its prospects or discovering a deposit and then selling the plot with maximum benefit.
In our opinion, the specifics of geological exploration for diamonds and its difference from other fields of business can be summarized in the following way: geological exploration is a capital-intensive field of business and has a purely cost-intensive nature; in addition, it is characterized by the exclusivity of each diamond deposit, as well as by the poor exploration maturity of a particular area.
On the other hand, the discovery of a new deposit during exploration permits not only to compensate for all the costs incurred, but also to obtain profits inconceivable in other industries. Mar-West Resources, the company that discovered the San Martin deposit in Honduras in 1996, increased its capitalization by a factor of about 80, from CAD 554,460 to CAD 42.4 million (polymetals). In the case of commercial diamond-bearing assets this is hundreds of thousands of percent!
The success or failure of geological exploration largely depends on the intuition, qualifications and experience of the geologist who fulfilled the forecast, chose the site, and then planned and carried out exploration. Geological exploration, and especially its search stage, is the only field of business in which the intuition, creativity and ability to penetrate the depths of the earth with reason, bringing things and deeds to sunshine so strongly affect the financial performance of a company.
In Russia, there have not been created conditions for the formation of a small geological exploration business involving junior companies, similar to those operating in Canada and Australia. Russian junior companies cannot emerge under the current subsoil legislation in principle, for this is hampered by both the lack of protectionist measures in relation to prospecting and exploration and the absence of special markets for venture (risk) capital in the financial system of Russia.
Therefore, right now the term Russian junior company does not reflect the western characteristics of juniors. In Russia, such a system has not yet been created, so you cannot count on the arrival of private investment in this particular business area before a fundamental change in legislation.
The main problems in the management of the mineral reserve fund in Russia, which affect the activities of junior companies, are the following:
- Absence of measures of state support in the field of taxation of geological exploration;
- Complex and long procedure for obtaining and transferring the rights for using subsoil;
- Complete lack of opportunity to attract venture capital to risky projects.
In Russia, the very notion of venture capital has emerged quite recently, and the legislative framework governing its turnover is completely absent, so there is no corresponding market. The prospects for even a developed project are not large: the per capita GDP is very far from the possibility of attracting the Russian population to invest money in high-risk projects. There is no capital market for small private investors and it is not expected in the foreseeable future.
OOO Proex Service was established in 2008, and its main economic activities included scientific research and development in the field of natural and technical sciences, activities in creating and using databases, and the provision of consulting services. We have long sought to obtain licenses for the exploration and evaluation of diamond deposits on an application basis. In 2015, we obtained 5 search and evaluation licenses in the Arkhangelsk Region.
License areas of OOO Proex Service
The union of top-grade and highly professional geologists, geochemists and programmers is now more than 20 years. We did not commercialize our developments, this area was an integral, non-negotiable part of our daily geological work. And we still treat it like this: this is our "workhorse," which is a delight for all geologists, geophysicists, who managed to see it. It was created for our tasks, which included a complex processing of geological and geophysical data: a database, a cartographic information processing unit, a unit for processing primary geological information, a geophysical data processing unit, a remote sensing data processing unit, and a simulation module with the possibility of rapid modification and scaling. The software complex has the Certificate of Rospatent (Russias Federal Service for Intellectual Property). For more than 15 years of its use and modernization, we now perfectly imagine what particular tasks it can solve for other geological applications (ore and non-ore prospecting and evaluation). This is an exceptional software product for diamond prospecting and evaluation work.
Proex Service deals exclusively with diamond exploration. Its CEO Vladimir Shchukin, who has the Ph. D. degree in Geology and Mineralogy and is the main generating and driving force of our company, has a work record of more than 40 years in this field, while the average work record of the main "creative group" is 20 to 30 years. Vladimir Shchukin added his Canadian work experience to the search projects in the Arkhangelsk Region. Therefore, our knowledge of this region in the field of diamond geology is very complete. Our enthusiasm and constant search for new approaches and ideas, multiplied by experience, give good results. The kimberlite pipes, discovered at the end of 2016-2017, are the first for the last 10 years of work on all diamond exploration projects in the Arkhangelsk Region. And it is noteworthy that diamonds here are also sought for by ALROSA, Arkhangelskgeoldobycha, and other companies...
A few words about the explosion pipes in Finland... There have already been discovered more than 30 of them. As always, they have to be assessed to identify if they belong to kimberlite, kimberlite diamondiferous, commercial kimberlite diamondiferous pipes, etc.
With regard to manifestations of Precambrian kimberlites, the Eastern European platform is not an exception among the ancient cratons: the Neoproterozoic manifestations of kimberlite magmatism on the EEC are represented by the fields of Kaavi-Kuopio and Kuusamo and Lentiira-Kuhmo in Eastern Finland. They are among the kimberlite manifestations of the vast area on the passive edge of the Iapetus Ocean, which opened during the disintegration of the Rodinia supercontinent. Within the Russian part of the EEC, kimberlites of this age are not identified. However, manifestations of ultrabasic lamprophyres (tuffs, tuffites, thin sheets and veins) associated with the Late Vendian deposits are known in the Arkhangelsk Diamond Province on the Winter Coast of the Onega Peninsular and on the South-East Coast of the White Sea. These lamprophyres may represent the eastern extension of the extensive Neoproterozoic province of alkaline and alkaline-ultrabasic magmatism, which also covers the north of Canada and Scandinavia (A. A. Nosova, V. A. Kononova, 2009).
Crater facie sample from KL01 Pipe
Proex Service was able to timely receive 7 licenses (covering 15,500 sq. km) under the application principle (now it is reserved only for those areas where geologic exploration for this type of minerals was not performed). We are sure that the southern areas have a good resource potential, as there have been discovered diamond accompanying minerals with good technical characteristics and indicators received by ICP-methods, which make it possible to state that their primary sources are not the known kimberlite fields. We conducted aerogeophysical studies, ground-based magnetography to outline the magnetic perspective anomalies for drilling. The south of the Arkhangelsk Region is favorable in the natural and climatic respect, the area is sparsely populated, and there are no environmental or territorial claims of the indigenous population, and good logistics of the territory is also noted. The two new licenses to the north of the Grib Pipe is a completely new material for processing the previously made high-quality remote and geophysical surveys.
The kimberlite pipes we have discovered are of the classical type, typical for this region, with a thick tuffaceous stratum (the development of the Grib Pipe from 2014 to 2016 yielded 10 million carats of diamonds extracted from its crater part), and they differ from the pipes in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The latter are characterized by a deep erosion cut, which reveals mainly the basal parts of the kimberlite structures. The Phanerozoic kimberlites of the Arkhangelsk Diamondiferous Province are characterized by an erosion cut revealing mainly diatreme and often crater facies (A. A. Nosova, V. A. Kononova, 2009).
A very unusual and established fact for our kimberlites is that they contain a large number of iron-manganese-titanium-silicate spherules. It is known from literary sources that such spherules are present in the kimberlites of the Yakut diamond-bearing province and are often found in the Catoca pipe (Angola). At the moment, it is possible to consider the availability of such spherules in sediments as a search sign of diamond content (Yatsenko, 2011).
Spherules
The team of like-minded geologists has covered a long way they started from regional works, outlined promising areas for exploration and evaluation, conducted expensive aerial magnetic survey for most of the licenses, performed a large volume of work on ground-based grading of local magnetic anomalies, produced a large number of high-quality modern analytical analyses, tried out new methods of electrical survey, computer simulation, and are verifying their findings by drilling operations. The result was not long in coming: the company has added seven kimberlite pipes to its assets.
Prospects for an investor, who put his money in an exploration project and received a result in the form of a diamond-bearing pipe based on assessment materials, are quite tangible: a multiple increase in the capitalization of his stake.
By Irina Gogol, Deputy Director for Development of Proex Service, Geochemist, MBA
Williamson production to remain suspended for up to three months Petra Petra Diamonds says a preliminary estimate suggests that production at its 75%-owned Williamson diamond mine in Tanzania will be temporarily suspended for up to three months until a new tailings storage facility (TSF) is commissioned.
Chinas wholesale gold demand dips due to seasonality and COVID disruptions in October The average Shanghai-London gold price premium remained elevated in October but fell during the second half of the month as COVID-related uncertainty clouded local gold demand prospects. Seasonal weakness and COVID-related disruptions weighed on Octobers...
Nornickel introduces automated remote-controlled drilling at Norilsk mines The automated drilling technology significantly enhances performance, improves safety, and ensures a stable workflow and delivery against the targets.
Iamgold revises 2022 production guidance upwards Dual-listed Iamgold produced 184 000 ounces (oz) in the third quarter from three of its operations compared to 153 000 oz, a year earlier. Of the three operations, its 90%-owned Essakane Mine in Burkina Faso delivered strong results and achieved...
Supervisory Board of ALROSA holds a meeting in Mirny
24 september 2017 News
On Saturday, the Supervisory Board of ALROSA held a meeting in Mirny chaired by Russias Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who is also heading the Supervisory Board. In particular, the Board members supported the decision to hire an independent consultant to investigate the causes of the accident at the Mir Mine. The meeting also considered the issues related to optimizing the structure of the company's Executive Committee.
The Supervisory Board heard the report of the ALROSA management on the circumstances of the accident occurred at the Mir mine on August 4, 2017, as well as on the support measures that the company provides to the affected miners, including the implementation of the employment program for the Mir workers. At present, the commission of Rostechnadzor (Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia) continues to investigate the causes of the accident and the results of this investigation will be summed up within a few weeks.
The management of ALROSA also provided information on measures to enhance industrial safety, which the company will implement. In particular, the members of the Supervisory Board reviewed the proposals for the selection of a foreign auditor to independently examine the accident at the Mir Mine and the efficiency of the design decisions chosen during its construction. Following the consideration, it was decided to hire SRK Consulting to perform this job. The auditors work will last until the end of this year.
The Supervisory Board also decided to optimize the structure of ALROSA's Executive Committee in order to ensure representation of the companys managers supervising all its underlying activities and to exclude duplication of functions. Until now, the quantitative limit of the Executive Committee was 13 members (with 3 seats remaining vacant). Ultimately, the quantitative limit has been reduced to 9 members.
Simulatenously, there were changes in the very composition of the Executive Committee. Ivan Demyanov and Igor Kulichik, who left the company, as well Alexander Makhrachev, the head of the Udachninsky Mining Division, Ravil Sanatulov, the head of the Aikhal Mining Division, and Alexander Chaadayev, the head of the Yakutniproalmaz Institute, who continue their work in these positions, were withdrawn from the Executive Committee, as they are functionally reporting to Igor Sobolev, the companys First Vice President and Operational Director, who is sitting on the Executive Committee. Sergey Barsukov, Vice-President for Interaction with Government Authorities and for International Activities, Aleksey Filippovskiy, Vice-President for Economy and Finance, and Evgeny Agureev, Director of the United Selling Organization of ALROSA, were added to the Executive Committee.
By India Today Web Desk: Classy, elegant, and simply beautiful--if these are a few praises you're used to throwing at Kareena Kapoor Khan, just wait till you take a closer look at her latest avatar.
B-Town parties are usually glittery events, where celebs always manage to bring their A game. And the ensemble that Bebo donned for one such party recently had us wondering if there's any more glamourous she can get.
Kareena Kapoor Khan, spotted on her way to a party in Mumbai. Photo: Yogen Shah
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The 37-year-old star arrived at the party dressed in a black, one-shoulder dress that announced the fact that she's back in shape, and how. The outfit is perfect for anybody who wants to flaunt a toned body, and that's precisely what Kareena has.
Picture courtesy: Instagram/therealkareenakapoor
Also Read: Learn how to look HAWT in a saree from Kareena Kapoor Khan
The Ashish Soni dress didn't just fit her body perfectly, but also managed to flaunt her sharp collar bones. The long sleeve on her left balanced the glamour of the one-shoulder pattern with such subtlety that it set the ensemble a class-apart from your everyday little black dress.
Picture courtesy: Instagram/mohitrai
And so did the front-slit on the skirt of the dress, which added to the drama quotient of her not-so-generic look. While most of us can think of basic skater dresses as LBDs, Kareena actually pulled off a body-hugging one with a beautiful front-slit!
Picture courtesy: Instagram/mohitrai Picture courtesy: Instagram/mohitrai
Then there are the stunning accessories Kareena paired with this attire. The gorgeous, leafy, emerald brooch designed by Farah Khan Ali added much-needed glimmer to the elegant number. Portraying her taste for classy accessories and high-end fashion, the brooch is nothing like the regular accessories we see celebs sporting.
Also Read: Kareena Kapoor, Malaika Arora & others are making workout attire sexy again
The pointy, silver-grey Louboutins blend with the black dress to give it the same smoky look that Kareena's makeup does. The beauty of those Louboutins is in how they stand out of the dark tone of the ensemble, and yet manage to blend in perfectly.
Kareena Kapoor Khan and Karisma Kapoor, on the way to the party. Photo: Yogen Shah
Kareena's iconic smoky eyes and nude-lips are something she usually sticks to. And this time, sticking to this oldie-but-goldie technique helped her slay once again. The whole tone of the ensemble and makeup creates an aesthetic blend of colours that can woo every single heart.
And that's just what Kareena managed to do as she went to party with her sister Karisma, cousins and friends.
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By PTI: Kochi, Sep 24 (PTI) Thousands of madrassas in Pakistan preaching Saudi brand of Islam produce "ruthless militants in hundreds", the Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) has said.
In a message to the two-day South Asian Regional Seminar of Communist and Left parties held here, the Central Committee of the CPP said that long-term tactics were designed by the military in Pakistan to tear the social fabric of the society.
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M A Baby, a member the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), circulated a copy of the CPPs message at a press conference on the concluding day of the seminar today.
The CPP, founded in Calcutta in 1948, has a marginal presence in Pakistan.
Baby said CPP representatives could not attend the conference as they were denied visa by the Indian authorities.
The CPI(M) organised the seminar to mark the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia.
The CPP said that during periods of military rule in Pakistan, the party was banned and hundreds of its leaders activists were jailed. Many of them disappeared, it said.
Even under these circumstances, the CPP continued its struggle for the basic rights of the masses.
It said the Pakistani military, soon after imposing martial law in the country in 1980, established some 60,000 madrassas which started preaching the Saudi brand of Islam. "To glamourise jihadi culture, special recruitments were made in universities, schools and colleges. Areas adjacent to the Afghan border were surrendered to jihadi outfits," it said.
"Textbooks were revised and fanatic sectarian articles were included in the curriculum. Democracy and secularism were synonyms for curse," it said.
The party alleged that the same pattern was being followed by the "establishment" in Pakistan even today.
"Madrassas are producing ruthless militants in hundreds. ...Students from public educational institutions are encouraged to join the ranks of militants," it said. PTI TGB SMN SC SC
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MANCHESTER, England (AP) Joseph Parker prevented the Fury family from reclaiming a world heavyweight title by beating Hughie Fury by a majority decision on Saturday, with the judges rewarding the New Zealander's attacking approach in an uneventful fight.
Parker failed to land many clean punches but was never in danger against Fury, who came with a game plan of negating Parker's power with his movement and foot speed and then counterattacking.
Two judges scored the fight 118-110 in favor of Parker. The other judge scored it 114-114.
"I felt I won, put on the pressure," Parker said. "It was a close fight, but I felt I came out on top."
It was the second successful defense of his belt, leaving Parker (24-0) to look ahead to a potential fight against WBA and IBF champion Anthony Joshua. Parker's promoter, Dave Higgins, said the fight could be arranged for the summer of 2018 at a big stadium in Britain.
"I don't care who I fight next, everyone and anyone," said Parker, who was fighting in the UK for the first time and plans for more fights here.
Hughie was attempting to match the achievement of his cousin, Tyson, who beat Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015 to win the WBA, WBO and IBF belts. Tyson was in Hughie's corner at Manchester Arena and leapt into the ring after the fight was over, mobbing his cousin in an attempt to convince the judges.
It didn't work. The Fury camp said it will be appealing the result.
"Disgusted to be honest," Fury said. "They've ruined peoples' lives tonight. I didn't think the score was right. I thought I won the fight easy."
Fury, who lost for the first time in 21 professional fights, is the subject of an ongoing UK Anti-Doping investigation after low-level traces of the steroid nandrolone were found in samples given by him in February 2015. He has denied any wrongdoing and is challenging their findings, leaving him free to box.
Parker described Fury's wafted punches as a "pitter-patter" and said he wasn't hurt once. Fury landed two uppercuts but lacked power with his punches. His awkward, evasive style didn't make for an entertaining fight in the first sporting event at the arena since the bomb attack in May.
The Owner of Rendezvous Restaurant & Bar at Maluafou, Manwell Kurene Endemann, is appealing to the public for help to find equipment stolen from his business ransacked by a thief of thieves yesterday morning.
Rendezvous was broken into, he told the Sunday Samoan.
At the moment the matter is with the Police now and they are investigating the incident.
This is the first time ever since Rendezvous was established that something like this has happened to it.
On a social media post yesterday, Mr. Endemann appeals for help from anyone who might have seen or heard anything that may lead to finding the thief or thieves.
The post reads: Rendezvous restaurant was broken into early this morning.
It must have been between 1am-5am and it would have been more than one person because a lot were taken.
If someone (s) tries to sell you; 2 black Samson speakers, 1 samson mixer, 2 mics, 1 white projector, 1 container cables, speaker wires, 1 panasonic stereo and 2 small black Panasonic speakers then please contact the police on 22222 or Kurene on 7503110.
Please pass this along to your friends or relatives. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.
For the first time in nine years since we opened Rendezvous Restaurant this has happened.
Spirits were also broken.
Our Karaoke Thursday will be cancelled until further notice.
Attempt to get a comment from the police was unsuccessful.
Four police officers have been charged with assault.
The charges were confirmed in a press release issued by the Samoa Police Service on is Facebook page.
Four police officers have been charged with assault early this week, the statement reads.
The charges were the result of an internal investigation by the Police Professional Standards Unit in relation to an incident from last year.
The victims were both males ages 21 and 19.
The officers have been remanded in liberty and will appear in court for mention on the 10th of October 2017.
The S.P.S has a zero tolerance policy on this kind of behaviour from its officers and it is committed to ensure the public has confidence in its Police Service.
According to a police officer who spoke to the Sunday Samoan on the condition of anonymity, the incident occurred last year in December.
It was an incident in one of the villages within Faleata District where the police were contacted for help, said the source.
The said police officers responded to the call and when they arrived at the scene, they were attacked.
They managed to arrest one of the people from the family and they took him to the station.
On the next day the family of this person visited him and when he (the accused) came out he had bruises all over his face. So the family laid a complaint against the police officers.
According to the source it has been a while since the family laid a complaint.
Last week the Professional Unit Standard confirmed the charges and the police officers are remanded in liberty.
They are scheduled to appear in court on 10 October 2017.
The unfortunate increased permit fees targeting only American Samoan born citizens entering Samoa will be addressed at the Two Samoa Talks next month in Apia.
This is according to the American Samoa Attorney General, Talauega Elesalo Ale in response to the Samoa Observer questions following the increase of permit fees for U.S. nationals.
I am aware that Samoa is raising its fees targeting specifically U.S nationals born in American Samoa only.
While I see this as unfortunate, I have no say in the matter, said Talauega.
According to the Press Secretary, from 9 October, 2017 the fee for a permit for up to 14 days will double to $US20; for urgent issuance the fee will be $US30 and for multiple entries for 12 months will cost $US150. For U.S national overstayers there will be a new fee of $200 tala, or $US80, in addition.
The A.S.A.G. reiterated that American Samoa has no control over the increases fees.
Samoa is an independent sovereign country and she is free to impose whatever fees she wishes to impose on travelers to her shores, even if these fees are specific to those of us born in American Samoa.
We have no plans to respond in kind by raising our fees against Samoan citizens. Talauega further stated the fees they have in place do not target just Samoa citizens, they apply to all countries.
If anything we offer lower fees and special permits to Samoan citizens and try to make it easier for Samoa citizens to enter American Samoa.
In any event, I am sure this issue will be addressed at the Two Samoa Talks next month, said Talauega.
All the new fees and costs will go into effect October 9th, 3 days before the Two Samoa Talks.
According to the Press Secretary, the delay in granting entry permits for Samoan nationals to travel to Amerika Samoa has led to complaints registered with the Ministry of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Its an inconvenience that government has been trying for years to resolve with the territorial government as the bottleneck originates from American Samoa and her permit-approving procedures.
For instance, American Samoans wanting an entry permit to enter Samoa can apply in person to Samoas Consulate Office in Fagatogo and received their permits the same day.
But for local residents, they are required to email a passport copy, a return ticket and contacts of their sponsors in the territory to the American Samoa Immigration Office.
And from there, they wait.
Government has exhausted avenues to streamline the processing of entry permit request from our side, explained M.P.M.C.s Chief Executive Agafili Tomaimano Shem Leo.
But while we have streamlined our permit processes, we still have to comply with American Samoas procedures.
As the leading government agency organizing the Two Samoa talks to take place in Apia next month, Agafili says that the entry permit issue will be one of the issues on the agenda.
A two-day hearing against two men accused over a package intercepted by Customs Officers at the Fagalii Airport, which contained ice, started last week.
Scott Barlow and Fatu Vagana are facing one joint charge of possession of methamphetamine to which they have both pleaded not guilty.
In addition, Mr. Barlow faces a charge of possession of a utensil namely a pipe, commonly used to smoke ice/meth. He has also pleaded not guilty to this charge.
Presiding over the matter was Supreme Court Judge, Tafaoimalo Leilani Tuala Warren.
The prosecutor was Fatumanavaupolu Ofisa Tagaloa and Anne of the Attorney Generals office while Scott Barlow is represented by Aumua Ming Leung Wai.
Leiataualesa Jerry Brunt appeared on behalf of Fatu Vagana.
According to Fatumanavaupolu, the prosecution have 16 witnesses including a taxi driver Junior Pilitati Tavita, who drove Barlow and Vagana to the airport on the day of the incident and Harry Samau an employee of Talofa Airways who was working on the same day.
The first witness called was Junior Pilitati Tavita of Alamagoto.
He was a former employee of Scott Barlow and his wife back from 2007-2012 however, he no longer works for Barlow but is a taxi driver who Barlow occasionally contacts to pick up his wife and children.
During Mr. Tavitas testimony, he recalled on the 28th June, 2017 Mr. Barlow contacted him and asked if he could come to his home at Ululoloa.
I went and picked up his wife and daughter, dropped his wife at Lotemau and his daughter off at school, he said.
I was also instructed by Scott to come back around 10am.
When I came back to his house, he then told me to go to the wharf and pick up his friend.
So I went to the wharf arrived there just before 11 oclock and when the ferry arrived I picked up his friend and we headed back to Apia to Scotts house at Ululoloa.
On our way back, this person asked me if I had a pen. I told him where the pen was and I handed him my cash power receipt and thats when I saw him writing down the name Penina Setu.
We came straight back to Ululoloa to Scotts place but when we arrived, Scott was not there. So I left his friend there and came to get corn beef from his baby sitter and then I went back. Scott was there at the time and then we ate.
Mr. Tavita told the court that before they left Scotts home he (Scott) instructed him to get a tissue that was inside his van.
I went and got the tissue and I put it on the side of my door, he said.
It was Scott, Fatu, myself and Scotts employee who we dropped off at Lotemau then we went to Fagalii,
When we arrived at Fagalii Airport Scott went inside and came back and we waited for the plane. Not long after, the plane arrived and then Scott went inside the airport a second time.
About half an hour after Scott went inside the airport, thats when police arrived, searched my car and took us all to the police station.
Fatumanavaupolu then asked Mr. Tavita how he came to know what was inside the tissue.
When I went to get the tissue, Scott told me to hold it properly in case the pipe dropped out, said Mr. Tavita.
Meanwhile, an employee of Talofa Airways, Harry Samau who deals with the check-ins, as well as clearing the cargo, was working on the 28th June, 2017.
There was a man he was white but he spoke in Samoan. He came and told me that he had an envelope that is being brought in by our flight that he was there to pick it up, said Mr. Samau.
I told him then that when the flight arrived I would bring his envelope to him but it was around noon.
There was an envelope that came in on the flight 512 and I remembered this because this was the only envelope that came in on this flight 512 and cargo. I was the one who had the envelope because I was the one who cleared the flight.
I came and gave the envelope to the man who came and asked me before, however the man told me that the envelope was not his.
I then told him that this was the only envelope that came on this flight but he said no so I brought him inside our office where there were more envelopes that had arrived in the morning to see if we had his envelope that he was looking for.
We went through all the envelopes that were in the office and I was looking through our airways bill and while I was looking through the airways bill I turned around and thats when I saw him holding a bag.
I then told the man that he could not touch the bag and I took it away from him.
The man then told me that this was his bag.
I then said to him that he told me that it was an envelope he was seeking and that now its cargo but he insisted that the bag belonged to him.
Mr. Samau said he went through the airways bill and it matched the information on the bag and the information that was on the airway bill.
I asked him to confirm the names and I saw the airway bill that it matched the name that the man was saying.
The sender was Sera Apineru and the receiver was Penina Setu. I then asked the man if he had an ID of Penina Setu but he said he didnt have an ID of Penina Setu.
I then told him that if the cargo belonged to him it had to go through Customs and Quarantine. He didnt say anything else he just followed me there and thats where our service ended because it was now with Customs and Quarantine.
Scott Robert Barlow, who testified on the second day denied having any knowledge about ice/meth being sent from American Samoa nor about owning the pipe in question.
Before the day of the incident Fatu called me the night before and said that he needed some quick money because he was building a house in Savaii and he asked if I could help sell some ice for him, said Mr. Barlow.
He told me that he was coming from Savaii on the morning ferry and returning in the evening and he asked if I could pick him up from the wharf. I told him I couldnt but I would send someone to get him.
Junior Pilitati went and got Fatu from the wharf and then brought him to my home at Ululoloa but at that time, I thought that he had already had some ice on him.
Mr. Barlow told the court he did not know they were going to go to the airport until Fatu asked him if they could go pick up an envelope with money in it.
We got to the airport and I told Fatu that he had to tip someone at the airport to make sure the envelope arrived safely and didnt get mixed up, said Mr.Barlow.
Fatu said he did not have any money so I went and gave the employee of Talofa Airways, Harry Samau a tip of $50 to make sure that the envelope arrived safely.
When the plane arrived, Mr. Samau came and showed me some envelopes but the names on those envelopes did not match the name I was asking for.
While heading to the car Mr. Samau called me again and told me to come with him inside his office to try and find the envelope that I was looking for.
We got to the office and Harry went through everything and said to me there is no envelope by the name of Penina Setu.
I was sitting down at the time and my back was faced to the door. Not long after, another guy that was in the office asked what we were looking for. Both me and Harry answered Setu Penina. That person then told me that the name is on a pack bag.
Harry then picked up the bag, opened it and searched it. He walked to where the Customs and Quarantine were to search the bag and told me that there was no envelope inside the bag.
Aumua reminded his client yesterday that during Harry Samaus testimony, he had told the court that Mr. Barlow was the one who took the bag and held it (afisi pei se pepe).
I never touched that bag. It was Harry who got the bag put it on the drawer, opened it up and went through the stuff inside, said Mr. Barlow.
You can search for my fingerprints on that bag and you will find nothing because I never touched that bag.
Mr. Barlow also told the court when he was questioned by Aumua, how he came to know the name of the sender.
In response, Mr. Barlow said he was told by Fatu on their way to the airport of the senders name.
Mr. Barlow said when Harry took the bag to the Quarantine and Customs the person from Quarantine pretty much cleared the bag however the Customs officer was the one who went through the bag again.
So the Customs guy, Charles Bell brought the chocolates out, the lollies and also an ie lavalava, said Mr. Barlow.
When the guy brought the ie lavalava out there was a knot on the ie and at that time I felt nervous. I was worried and all these mixed feeling came rushing to me.
Charles asked what it was and I told them that I was there for an envelope with money in it, not a bag.
He opened the knot and that was when I saw two bags of crystal ice.
I then begged him to help me and I told him that I would pay them $5,000 tala each but to let me go because this is not what I was there for .I was there to pick up an envelope with money in it, I thought of my wife and my children at that time.
I told him I would do anything for them and the guy actually thought about it but he called the police anyway.
I had no knowledge whatsoever that we were going to the airport to get a bag because I was told it was money, I was told it was an envelope, not a bag.
If I knew it was ice, I wouldnt go to the airport.
The matter has been adjourned to the 3rd October for defense counsel and prosecution to put forward their final submissions.
Theres no place like home.
That is the belief of Junior Chang from Leusoalii.
When speaking to the Village Voice; the 27 year old said you cant find peace anywhere else but at home.Not for him the bright lights and buzz of Apia.
Home is where peace lies within, he told Village Voice. Where theres peace, theres happiness.
I love my life right now especially living a life in the rural village because I always feel at peace with no problems.
Its true we do run into minor problems from time to time within the village but life in the rural village; its manageable because everything is easy and everyone get along fine with each other.
Everyone just goes about doing their own thing without looking at what the other person is doing. They dont meddle with other families matters.
According to Junior, he cant imagine himself anywhere else but home.
For me, home is always the best place to be. You feel safe within your own walls and nobody has your back like your own family.
I am the eldest amongst my siblings and I am trying my best to be the best role model for the younger ones.
I think thats the problem in some families nowadays is that they dont know their roles and responsibilities anymore.
Too many people in Apia have made it so hard for people to find peace within themselves. Its too crowded and thats why they always end up somewhere else seeking advice and peace rather than from their own families.
But we always need time to be alone with our families especially our parents right?
Thats the good thing about staying in the rural villages; we are encouraged to take our families seriously. We are encouraged to know how to work out ways to put food on the table for our families.
Thats our focus and everybody else knows that so thats why over here; another person doesnt mind anothers business because they know their place and they know their responsibility.
PARIS (AP) Researchers say Islamic State supporters have found an ephemeral platform to share propaganda: Using Instagram's "stories" feature, which causes posts to disappear in 24 hours.
With successive military defeats in Iraq and Syria, many of its recruits dead or on the run and its Twitter and Facebook accounts being shut down, the group's propaganda drive is increasingly homemade. But a recent analysis found the networks of people inspired by the group remain strong elsewhere.
The software analysis identified more than 50,000 accounts linked to Islamic State supporters posting Instagram stories, according to Andrea Stroppa, who is part of the software research group called Ghost Data.
Of those 50,000, just over 10,000 are described as strongly-linked to IS they follow core IS accounts and are followed back, and about 30 percent of their posted content is about the group.
"They send a message that they know will disappear but they know who the audience is. They are using these stories because they know it is a safe channel to share information," said Stroppa, who is also affiliated with the World Economic Forum.
There is no sign that the majority of the posts are from Islamic State's central propaganda units rather, they tend to be personal snapshots with little production value, like a clip of the IS trademark black flag, or a bloody photo showing what happens to "traitors."
Instagram is owned by Facebook, which came under pressure to close accounts linked to Islamic State supporters after governments said it was being used as a propaganda and recruitment tool. At the height of Islamic State's recruitment drive in the West in 2014 and 2015, the group's propaganda was of a quality unseen in other extremist groups. On Wednesday, the U.N. General Assembly was focusing on extremist content on the internet, with social media front and center.
In a statement Wednesday, Instagram said "There is no place for terrorists, terrorist propaganda, or the praising of terror activity on Instagram, and we work aggressively to remove content or an account as soon as we become aware of it."
The company said its policy prohibits terrorist content, and that it has specialized teams that work to stop the spread of such posts from its platform.
Seamus Hughes, deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, said the crackdown by Twitter and Facebook is a big reason why the content is moving elsewhere.
On places like Instagram and Tumblr, "you are usually looking at supporter-driven creations," he said. "I just don't see guys in Raqqa building Instagram stories."
Nathan Patin, who analyzes extremist social media for the website Bellingcat and reviewed the report and database, said the ability to scrape social media for geotags offers new insight into Islamic State supporters.
IS supporters still rely primarily upon the encrypted app Telegram, but Patin said they "will use every platform that's available." The difference with Instagram stories, he added, is that they're public and in "one post they're posting Islamic State propaganda and in the next they're posting at a restaurant that's geotagged."
The analysis bolsters a conclusion this week by Policy Exchange, a British think tank, that Islamic State's ability to reconstitute its online networks is undiminished. Policy Exchange found that Islamic State places a premium on speed and agility to move between platforms. It also said IS output of online activity remains consistent, even when the group is under pressure militarily, by finding a "dispersed and resilient form."
A potential weekend-long traffic nightmare got off to a smooth start Saturday, with transportation and border officials reporting no major issues as construction crews manning excavators tackled a crucial portion of the $741 million expansion of the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
All traffic southbound on Interstates 5 and 805 was shut down at Route 905, and drivers wishing to go into Mexico were directed to the port of entry in Otay Mesa. No vehicles were allowed to pass from the U.S. side of the border into Mexico at the San Ysidro port.
The closures began at 3 a.m. Saturday and will remain in place until noon Monday, a period totaling 57 hours.
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While cars and trucks are prohibited, public transportation such as the Metropolitan Transit System trolley is still in service, and pedestrian traffic is open on both sides of the border.
In order to avoid a Carmageddon of epic traffic snarls, authorities from the California Highway Patrol, Caltrans and the U.S. General Services Administration waged an informational campaign warning travelers of the freeway shutdown and posting electronic signs along interstates as far north as Los Angeles in the days and weeks leading up to the closure.
By 5 p.m. Saturday, it appeared drivers took the warnings to heart, as officials reported no major traffic problems.
Of course there might be some things we might see that are unexpected, like accidents, but so far we have been going according to the plan, said Lima Saft, a transportation engineer at Caltrans, who spent the day monitoring cameras from the CHP/Caltrans Transportation Management Center.
Watching from a pedestrian bridge overlooking the San Ysidro Port of Entry Saturday morning, General Services Administration senior asset manager Anthony Kleppe was pleased to see a 6,000-square-foot steel and canvas canopy spanning I-5 had already been removed by workers using hydraulic clippers.
This is a ballet, Kleppe said. Theres a tremendous amount of coordination between contractors and government agencies, including the U.S Customs and Border Protection.
By 8 a.m., Kleppe said the project was already about a half-hour ahead of schedule.
We have very clear milestones, Kleppe said. Were going to get what has to be done during the 57 hours If we dont hit our milestones, we can defer and do limited lane closure afterwards. But were going to open by noon Monday. Thats a hard date.
This weekends freeway shutdown is reminiscent of the original Carmageddon the closure of a large swath of Interstate 405 in Los Angeles for a highway expansion project in 2011.
Lessons from the I-405 experience as well as some smaller projects in the San Diego area in recent years have led Caltrans officials to think the best way to tackle massive highway projects is to concentrate them into separate and distinct time periods.
Sometimes it just makes sense to tell people: Just stay away, said Laurie Berman, Caltrans director for District 11 that includes San Diego and Imperial counties. We get a tremendous amount of work done over a short time frame and then were not out there closing this lane, closing that lane and inconveniencing you every single day.
The port at San Ysidro is the busiest border crossing in the Western Hemisphere with about 70,000 vehicles and 20,000 pedestrians moving between the U.S. and Mexico each day.
The San Diego Association of Governments recently estimated an 87 percent increase in vehicle traffic by 2030 in the San Ysidro area.
Before Saturdays construction began, five lanes of traffic moved vehicles from California into Tijuana.
On Monday, three lanes will reopen. Four lanes are scheduled to open Nov. 21, and by the time the project is slated to be completed in 2019, 10 lanes will be in use.
The road construction is part of a larger border project aimed at increasing efficiencies and commerce between the San Diego and Tijuana area.
This is just part of the process of delivering a lot of new capacity to the region, Kleppe said.
Thats good news for Cindy Gompper-Graves, president and CEO of the South County Economic Development Council.
This weekend is going to be an inconvenience, but it is a small price to pay to get a border that works, she said. The border is not working because wait times are extremely long, sometimes hours and hours.
A study conducted in 2012 by the Southern California Association of Governments and the Imperial County Transportation Commission estimated more than 4,800 jobs in California and about 3,900 jobs in Baja California were not created due to border delays, resulting in aggregate economic losses estimated at $620 million for California and $755 million for Mexico.
Anything that impedes commerce, that impedes business productivity, that is inefficient, is a problem for business, Gompper-Graves said. But once we turn that corner, and once we get this thing working right I think youll see the San Diego and Tijuana region begin to fully appreciate what it means to be a binational region.
The freeway closures made for a quiet day for many San Ysidro businesses.
At the popular Las Americas Premium Outlets, Jacob Lira, a sales associate at Signature Perfume, guessed customer volume at 11 a.m. was down about 70 percent compared to a typical Saturday.
Right now its like a Monday, he said. Its so slow.
About the same time, the Designer Studio, which sells trendy clothes and accessories for women and kids, was empty.
Manager Lorenzo Baillieux said the freeway closure will hurt business this weekend because drivers in the San Diego area will have to use surface streets instead of the interstate. If you do not know the area, you cannot come down, he said. There are a lot of tourists who wont come down here.
But Rene Padilla, a 21-year-old student from Tijuana, took the pedestrian bridge to the outlet mall to take advantage of the situation.
Im thinking the people arent going to cross (the border) so the malls will have no lines, he said.
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rob.nikolewski@sduniontribune.com
(619) 293-1251 Twitter: @robnikolewski
By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 24 (PTI) In a bid to make the functioning of the countrys transparency watchdog CIC transparent, the Delhi High Court has directed it to maintain a record of daily proceedings and upload it within three days of the hearing a case.
The order came after the Central Information Commission (CIC) told the High Court that most of the cases were decided on the basis of a single hearing and hence, there was no requirement for maintaining the record of daily orders.
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"This submission is ex-facie unacceptable. The functioning of the CIC must be transparent, and it is necessary that a record of daily proceedings be maintained," a high court Justice Vibhu Bakhru said in a recent order.
He said even if the hearing is concluded on a single date, the order sheet maintained on that day should clearly reflect that the hearing has concluded, even though the decision is rendered subsequently.
The case pertained to RTI activist R K Jain who had challenged an order of former Information Commissioner Sushma Singh, alleging that during the hearing of his case, his plea was allowed.
But the written order, which came after over nine months, was completely opposite and did not factor in the arguments, submissions and observations made during the hearing.
He also claimed that no record of the proceedings or order sheet of the hearings is kept by the Information Commissioner.
Jain had also cited the case of another activist Subhash Agrawal, where the final order was completely different from the directives and observations made during the hearing.
In his plea, he had sought directions from the High Court for the CIC to maintain and keep the records of proceedings or order sheet of the hearings.
Justice Bakhru pointed out that in March 2016, the CIC had shown willingness to maintain the daily order sheets and prayed for some time from the High Court to evolve a procedure.
"Thus, sufficient time has been provided to the CIC to put in place a procedure for recording of order sheets; however, even today, the learned counsel (of CIC) is not in a position to inform this court, the procedure for ensuring recording of order sheets," the court said.
"In view of the above, the CIC is directed to maintain the order sheets for each hearing...The said order sheet would also be uploaded as expeditiously as possible and in any case not later than three days from the date of hearing," the high court directed.
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It also asked the Central Information Commission ensure that all the systems are accordingly modified to accommodate its directions. PTI ABS ARC DV
--- ENDS ---
CITY COUNCILS
CARLSBAD
The Carlsbad City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers at 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive. In regular session at 7 p.m., the council will consider an ordinance prohibiting commercial marijuana activity and regulating cultivation of marijuana for personal use, and making violations misdemeanors. The council will also consider an ordinance amending city code on second dwelling units (accessory dwelling units) to be consistent with changes to government code; and a resolution accepting the final Village, Barrio and beach area parking management plan.
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ENCINITAS
The Encinitas City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday in council chambers, 505 S. Vulcan Ave., to discuss the first drafts of the Coastal Mobility & Livability Study related to the Coastal Business Districts parking study and the Rail Corridor Vision Study.
ESCONDIDO
The Escondido City Council will meet in closed session to discuss labor negotiations at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in council chambers at 201 N. Broadway. In regular session at 4:30 p.m., the council will hold a CalPERS pension workshop regarding unfunded liabilities.
SAN MARCOS
The San Marcos City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 1 Civic Center Drive, when it will give final approval to the subdivision map for the San Elijo Hills Town Center, and introduce an ordinance renaming the Community Services Department to the Parks and Recreation Department.
SOLANA BEACH
The Solana Beach City Council will meet in closed session to discuss personnel and litigation at 5 p.m. Wednesday in City Council Chambers, 635 S. Highway 101. In regular session at 6 p.m., the council will hear an update on the design proposed for the La Colonia skatepark and consider advertising for construction bids; will discuss adding $65,000 to the agreement with STC Traffic Inc. for Phase 2 of the Lomas Santa Fe Corridor Feasibility Study; will finalize a resolution to streamline the permit process for adding electric vehicle charging systems; and create a Solana Beach-Del Mar Relations Standing Committee to discuss matters affecting both cities.
VISTA
The Vista City Council is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in City Council Chambers, 200 Civic Center Drive, when it will discuss an initiative petition for an ordinance to legalize medical marijuana businesses. The council must either adopt the ordinance, without alteration, within 10 days; submit it to voters at the next election (Nov. 6, 2018) or order a report within 30 days, at which time the city must either adopt the ordinance or put it on the ballot. The council will also discuss options for permitting medical marijuana dispensaries, delivery, cultivation and testing.
SCHOOL DISTRICTS
DEL MAR
The Del Mar Union School District board is scheduled to meet at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday at the Del Mar Union School District Office Training Center, 11232 El Camino Real, San Diego.
OCEANSIDE
The Oceanside Unified School District board is scheduled to meet in closed session to discuss labor negotiations, personnel and litigation at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Chavez Middle School, 202 Oleander Drive. In regular session at 6 p.m., the board will consider a resolution to approve a supplemental employee retirement plan for employees ages 55 and up and with a minimum of five years of service with the district.
SAN DIEGUITO
The San Dieguito Union High School District board will meet in closed special session at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Earl Warren Middle School, 155 Stevens Ave., to discuss changing the trustee election process to the by-district system.
laura.groch@sduniontribune.com
More than 40 years after it ended, the Vietnam War is back in the national conversation with the Ken Burns/Lynn Novick documentary currently airing in 10 parts over 18 hours on public television.
The war and its bloodiest battle are also at the center of Hue 1968, a book by veteran journalist Mark Bowden that became a New York Times bestseller shortly after its release in June.
Bowden, best known for Black Hawk Down, a reconstruction of the disastrous 1993 military raid in Somalia that left 18 Americans dead and more than 70 wounded, will be at Warwicks bookstore in La Jolla on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
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In his retelling, the weeks-long battle for Hue launched as part of the Tet Offensive by North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong forces helped alter the course of the war. There was no more conjecture that the war could be won swiftly or easily, he writes. The end was not in view. The debate was never again about how to win but about how to leave.
In addition to his books, Bowden writes for Atlantic, Vanity Fair and other magazines, and is the writer in residence at the University of Delaware.
Q: The Vietnam War is having a moment, with your book and the Ken Burns/Lynn Novick documentary on PBS. How have our feelings about the war evolved?
A: Probably half or more of people who would pick up my book werent even born when the war was fought. For them, its just a piece of history. For that reason, we can finally take a step back and try to think about the war apart from the political poles that have always defined it in American life.
Those of us who are old enough to have lived through it, were not allowed much gray area. Youre either for it or against it. Increasingly, there are vast audiences interested in the war who have none of that baggage. I think our feelings have matured, and thats because enough time has passed to give us some perspective, but not so much time that we dont have any witnesses left. Fifty years thats the sweet spot.
Q: What did you know about the Hue battle before you started researching it?
A: Almost nothing. Id heard about the Tet Offensive and I had dim memories from my youth of the press coverage, like photos in Life magazine. Id read Stanley Karnows Vietnam: A History. Most of the things Id seen focused on the overall Tet Offensive, and not Hue in particular.
Q: What is important about Hue?
A: It was the most important part of the Tet Offensive, even though it was not recognized as such at the time. The scope and devastation of that battle really shocked me. I knew Vietnam was terrible for those who fought it, but this kind of pitched battle in the streets, the urban warfare, is what we usually associate with World War II.
Working on this book gave me a deeper appreciation of the courage and sacrifice demanded of American soldiers and Marines, and a heightened appreciation for the sophistication of the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong.
Q: You point out the miscalculations American military commanders made about Hue. Why were they so often wrong?
A: Hanoi and the North Vietnamese Army were good. You have to give them credit. You cant move an army outside the third largest city in the country and not trip alarms from the citizens unless you are good at what you are doing.
But I think Hue also demonstrated some of the arrogance and ignorance of the American military leaders. Gen. (William) Westmoreland believed he had a far stronger command of the situation than was really true. Even after Hue was taken, he refused to believe it had happened. He generally couldnt believe that they could pull one over on the mighty United States of America.
Q: How did the battle shape Americas understanding of the war?
A: I think it tilted it. There was souring on the war already under way in the United States and it was growing. Eugene McCarthys decision to run against (President Lyndon) Johnson was an indication of how broad the opposition to the war was getting.
I do think the war was supported by most Americans, but the images from the Battle of Hue were so shocking it was not at all the war people had anticipated or been sold that it did help to tilt opposition to the war.
Q: What role did journalists play in this?
A: I think the reporting from Hue, which directly contradicted the official accounts, is part of what shaped Americas reaction. The Johnson administration and Westmorelands command set themselves up for a much greater fall by insisting everything was going great when they knew it wasnt true.
The accusation at the time was that journalists were painting an unfairly bleak image, but what I found is that they were telling the truth. When you interview hundreds of Americans and Vietnamese, and then you read the accounts in the New York Times and you read the public statements of Johnson and Westmoreland, its clear who was telling the truth.
When people tell me journalists lost the war, I tell them that if you count telling people the truth as losing the war, then youre right. Because what was actually happening there was horrific.
Q: This is very much a ground-level view of the war. Why did you want to tell it that way?
A: Thats the way I always work. Im not a historian by trade; Im a journalist. Im looking for the human element, the dramatic center of the story. You write from the ground up and you find the people most directly affected.
Q: It was interesting to me that the first people we meet in the book are Vietnamese. What message if any do you hope that sends the reader?
A: It signals to the reader that it is an account through the eyes of both the Vietnamese and the Americans. Thats whats new about this book.
Originally I had written a foreword about a 17-year-old kid from Philly named Lefty (Richard Leflar) who arrives in Hue and very quickly finds himself terrified, literally in a hole in the ground, curled in a fetal position and caught up in the worst battle of the war. I thought it would be interesting to then move immediately to an 18-year-old Vietnamese girl, Che Thi Mung, for whom the war is her life. Her family has been fighting for years.
As it turned out, I moved the Lefty story farther back into the book, which gave me an opportunity to paint a picture of Hue at the outset, and to introduce people to Che. Shes not at all what people think of when they think of the Viet Cong.
Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam, by Mark Bowden, Atlantic Monthly Press, 608 pages
john.wilkens@sduniontribune.com; (619) 293-2236
More than 150 years after the Civil War ended, America still seems to be fighting that bloody conflicts battles, over and over again.
Confederate monuments remain flash points of this countrys shameful legacy of slavery, and the recent, racially charged violence in Charlottesville, Va. barely 60 miles from where Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union forces at Appomattox Court House demonstrates just how far weve failed to come.
In Suzan-Lori Parks Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), set during the war between the North and the South, a slave gets a shot at freedom but only if he will agree to fight for the Confederacy alongside his master.
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This story of agonizing compromises and the sense that ones identity is under constant assault is told in contemporary language by Parks, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 2002 for Topdog/Underdog.
But that stylistic touch is hardly needed to establish the plays modern-day resonance. Just ask Antonio T.J. Johnson, the distinguished San Diego actor whos appearing in Intrepid Theatres local premiere of the 2016 work, and who has confronted some truths behind the play without even taking the stage.
He and cast mate Wrekless Watson, who is playing the central role of Hero, were at the downtown Horton Grand Theatre recently, working with scripts in hand, when they were (by Johnsons description) profiled as people who didnt belong in this area because of the color of our skin.
Security was called, and the actors, who are both African-American, were made to answer for themselves before going about their business.
We cant get away from it, says Johnson of the mindset behind the incident, which was instigated by someone outside the theater company.
Intrepid producing artistic director Christy Yael-Cox, whos directing the show, points to the episode as a great example of the insistent, pervasive, systemic racism from someone who Im sure did not feel they were racist, but made assumptions based on how this society is constructed that takes us all the way back to how America was built.
Its not for nothing that Part 1 of Wars is titled A Measure of Man; in the play, Hero is sized up as mere property, to the point that he himself wonders whether he has value beyond the cash someone is willing to pay for him.
And yet the actors and director say the 2014 work, patterned loosely and even playfully after Homers mythical epic The Odyssey, is far from some kind of screed.
Parks writes so beautifully and musically and lyrically, says Yael-Cox. She focuses on the individual experiences and the individual relationships, and tells the story through those individual experiences.
At the same time, there is something very sort of epic and classic about it. Its rare and remarkable to be able to create a piece of theater like this.
Shes been able, consistently throughout the entire play, to maintain that connective tissue between the Civil War and slavery, and today. We really are looking at that time in history through our experiences today.
It works so effectively because it makes it so resonant and visceral and accessible.
Finding the light
To Watson, a Brooklyn native and relative newcomer to San Diego stages, the humor is an important part of what makes the play hit home.
Even in the worst of times, you laugh, as he puts it. I dont care who you are you find something to smile about. It gives you the truth, it gives you the real it gives you the hard truth and the real.
But it also lets you smile and laugh and enjoy. Youre not going to come out of there feeling as though youre under a black cloud. It has it all love, romance, insecurities, jealousy, passion. Its such a well-rounded piece.
Whats also key to the play, Watson adds, is that its central character is not defined solely by race or any other label.
Hes what we all are, in a sense, Watson says. If you take it away from race, the black and white thing, or male and female, hes just an individual whos scared, who has his questions, whos insecure, who doesnt know who he should be sometimes. Who feels strongly about some things, and a question mark about these other things.
Its like, Wait, this human being is just as unsure about everything as I am! Thats how Ive been able to tap (into) the character.
To Johnson, the plural word Wars in the title is an important clue to the thrust of the play to its focus on battles both external and internal, finite and eternal.
There are so many wars going on, he says. Were fighting Mother Nature, were fighting each other. There are so many things, if you go down the list. It grabs all of us.
It does seem futile, but I think that part of it is about our journey. Even the futility is part of our journey.
Playwrights odyssey
Parks envisions an impressively epic journey for Wars, which she hopes will eventually encompass nine parts. The three parts of the existing work, which was named a Pulitzer finalist in 2015, also encompass Hero and his masters encounter with a captured white Union soldier named Smith, and Heros eventual homecoming.
Its three parts, but all one big story, says Yael-Cox, whose cast also includes Yvonne Brown, Rhys Green, Cortez Johnson, Tamara McMillian, Jim Mooney, Durwood Murray, Leonard Patton, Tom Stephenson and Sean Yael-Cox (the directors husband and fellow Intrepid founder).
It is like a soap opera or like a really great miniseries. And at the end of the third part, you feel pretty satisfied. But then at the same time, youre looking forward to seeing these people again.
That second part with Hero and the colonel and Smith, the captured Union soldier is not about ideology. Its about three people sitting and talking and understanding race and the history of the country through these individual lenses.
Its one of the more fascinating things that Ive ever seen onstage.
As unavoidably raw as the plays subject matter can be, given the tenor of our own times, Johnson says the ultimate obligation of the artists involved is to authenticity, not politics.
We really have a duty as performers to tell the truth, he says. We cant come into a situation as revolutionaries, bending the truth. The honesty of the play will take care of itself.
If its political, its by happenstance. We cant come into it politically. Its just not fair to the audience or the performer although it personally affects us, and we grit our teeth and we say Damn! sometimes.
Until we get through with the piece, we have to be real honest. Thats also the privilege and the honor of being in the business, is that we get to do that.
Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)
When: In previews. Opens Saturday (Sept. 30). 7:30 p.m. Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through Oct. 22.
Where: Intrepid Theatre at the Horton Grand Theatre, 444 Fourth Ave., Gaslamp Quarter.
Tickets: $29-$58 (discounts available)
Phone: (888) 718-4253
Online: intrepidtheatre.org
Changes at Intrepid
For Intrepid Theatre, Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) will conclude with a goodbye to the companys latest home, the Horton Grand Theatre.
Intrepid has announced that it is moving out of the Gaslamp Quarter space, which has been its performance base since early 2016 most recently in a sharing arrangement with San Diego Musical Theatre. (SDMT, for its part, has announced it will leave its own most recent venue, the Spreckels Theatre, and produce solely at the Horton Grand.)
Intrepid plans to shift its focus to the kinds of community partnerships exemplified by Exiled Voices: The Refugee Art Experience, a project that brought the stories of young San Diego refugee students to vivid life onstage last year.
We have always been a theater company that values community engagement, said Intrepid producing artistic director Christy Yael-Cox. Since (the 2015 production of) The Quality of Life, we have been inviting community leaders into conversation and partnership with our audiences to more deeply explore the themes in our plays.
We would like to continue this work on a larger scale, prioritizing our ability to support the community.
Exiled Voices really confirmed for us the impact of theater on a community and the power it holds to influence minds and hearts, Yael-Cox added. Even outside of San Diego, there has been interest in what we did here, in leveraging theatre to create empathy for the refugee population.
We have been asked to write about this project for the California Department of Social Services Refugee Bureau and to present on it at the 2017 Refugee Summit, and have received numerous requests from cities and schools across the country to replicate the program as a resource for communities and for social service workers who support the refugee population.
So we know that this work has value and that it resonates on a very large scale. We know that there is a need for it and we have decided to dedicate more space in our programming to fill that need, even if that means scaling back on our mainstage productions.
Intrepids next mainstage show will take place in mid-2018.
We cant reveal details about Season Eight at this time, including the venue, said Yael-Cox, but I can say that we just got the rights to Simon Stephens The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, a play we are deeply passionate about and excited to explore.
JAMES HEBERT
jim.hebert@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @jimhebert
Theres nothing like listing sandwich artist to burnish ones resume, right? But for Sheri, Ted and Jamie, three worker bees at an in-mall sandwich shop in Somewhere, U.S.A., its not about resumes its about living paycheck to paycheck while retaining if they can at least a slice of dignity.
When it looks like the sandwich shop wont be able to, through no fault of Sheri, Ted and Jamies, cut the mustard, Bess Wohls comedy American Hero turns existential. Its principals internal questions beckon: Why must awkward teen Sheri toil in not just one dehumanizing fast-food joint, but two? (She also works at a taco shop in the same mall.) How could middle-aged Ted, a casualty of corporate downsizing at Bank of America and a possessor of an MBA, be reduced to slapping two pieces of bread together? What did Jamie do to deserve having to wear a ridiculous vest and visor just to keep from losing custody of her kids?
But the truth is, American Hero is existential lite. Its plastic-gloved, assembly line trio may be mired in cringe-worthy circumstances ripe for pathos, but Wohls 2013 one-act is played largely for laughs.
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This is the case at New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad. Director Kristianne Kurner and a game ensemble of four (Cecilia Harchegani, Dallas McLaughlin, Wendy Waddell and Kamel Haddad) emphasize the plays physical and visual comedy, which are its definite strengths. The scripts narrative dead spots stem from its taxed flirtations with sobriety. While playwright Wohl may have intended otherwise, Chaplin-esque commentary on the dehumanization of the American worker (think Modern Times) this is not.
That distinction aside, American Hero is frequently funny during its 90 minutes. Inhabiting the storys most outlandish character, Waddell as Jamie brassily lets insults and profanities fly with equal ferocity and velocity. Often in their line of fire is Ted, whom McLaughlin makes the most officious but also the most sympathetic of the hapless sandwich artists. (In their task-defined roles, hes the finisher, Jamie is the wrapper, and Sheri is the baser.)
As for Sheri, Harchegani turns in a promising debut at New Village Arts in a low-key part that in lesser hands could be totally upstaged by the two broader characters behind the sandwich counter. Another newcomer to New Village Arts productions, Haddad rounds out the ensemble, playing four way over-the-top roles, including a costume-wearing talking sandwich thats not a misprint.
The ambient touches at New Village contribute to the fun or to the surrealism of the play, depending on your perspective. Kristen Flores sandwich-shop set boasts the requisite enforced sterility and cheerfulness of such places in its bright colors and serviceable furniture. Signage including Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sandwiches speaks to the clueless franchise approach to humor and relatability.
The transition music between scenes or in significant moments leans heavily on classic rock, though there are snippets that smack of retro lounge records, and, of all things, theres The Girl from Ipanema. A little samba with your sandwich, sir?
American Hero
When: 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through Oct. 15.
Where: New Village Arts Theatre, 2787 State St., Carlsbad.
Tickets: $33-$36
Phone: (760) 433-3245
Online: newvillagearts.org
Perhaps in keeping with traditional Marine Corps subtlety, you really cant miss the pilots of Fighter Attack Squadron 232, the Red Devils.
Raybans and aviator watches could give them away, but theres also the Satanic iconography of their booth at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, replete with a howling Lucifer statue, plenty of pitchforks and patches from their 2015 combat operations in Iraq pledging to open the gates of Hell for Islamic State militants.
And, well, the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C Hornet strike fighter parked behind them. Next to a cherry red fightertruck a vintage fire engine with a large part of a jets tail section welded on its rump.
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People just want to know about the jet, said Capt. Justin M Bissell. And they kind of want to know the history of our squadron, the oldest fighter squadron in the Marine Corps. Weve got a really cool legacy.
Born on Sept. 1, 1925, VMFA-232 is the oldest and most decorated squadron in the Corps, flying sorties during the early years of the Chinese civil war before logging heavy combat in World War II, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Its satisfying, in a sense, to do what youre trained to do, said Capt. Mike Champ Frazer, who flew dozens of sorties over Iraq in 2015. A lot of pilots fly fighters for 20 years and never get to do that. But at the same time theres something very businesslike about it.
Often overlooked at the annual Miramar Air Show, where the tarmac explodes with pyrotechnics and the Navys Blue Angel aerial acrobats swirl and plunge across the canopy of the airshows sky, are the fighter pilots themselves, who consider it a key mission to help bridge the civil-military divide by greeting the taxpayers who fund the Corps and the veterans of the armed forces who served before them.
Bissell and Frazer spent much of Saturday morning hawking Red Devil patches, T-shirts and even baby onesies. Proceeds cut costs for enlisted Marines attending the annual squadron ball, but their focus was on being the face of the Corps fighter community to the American public during a turbulent time in Asia.
They returned home on Sept. 13 from a six-month deployment across the Pacific Ocean. While the Red Devils spent the bulk of the deployment training at Marine Air Corps Station Iwakuni in southern Japan, they also ventured north of Tokyo to fly alongside Japanese Air Self-Defense Force pilots, took part in the Northern Edge 2017 exercise in Alaska and helped the grunts of 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines master close air support operations in Hawaii.
The hours are hard, said Bissell. Ive got four kids. Thats hard and that was my first deployment. Being gone from them was tough, but working with Marines and flying obviously make it worth it.
Earlier Saturday, U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers from Guam, escorted by F-15C Eagle fighters from Okinawa, buzzed international waters near North Korea. It was the farthest north of the Demilitarized Zone any American combat aircraft have ventured in the 21st century, according to a statement released by the Pentagon. The show of force was meant to demonstrate both American resolve and the capability of Americas aerial forces during an ongoing standoff with a nuclear North Korea building missiles that can strike the United States.
They dont broadcast it, but the Red Devils have been touched by tragedy in recent years.
Returning from combat in Iraq, Maj. Taj Cabbie Sareen, 34, died in 2015 when his fighter crashed near the Royal Air Force Lakenheath base in Great Britain. Then on July 28, 2016, Maj. Richard Stranger Norton was killed in a crash near Twentynine Palms during a training exercise. He was 35.
Both names are stenciled on the driver and passenger doors of the fightertruck.
Bissell drew some of the hardest duty in his career as the CACO Casualty Assistant Calls Officer to Nortons family, ensuring that they received the funeral and pay benefits that they deserved while honoring the sacrifice of the pilot.
Every time we go flying, well, you never know, said Bissell. Its a dangerous profession and theres minimal room for error, whether its a training flight or a combat flight.
MCAS Miramar Air Show
When: Through Sunday. Gates open at 8 a.m.
Where: Marine Corps Air Station Miramar
Information: Directions and tickets available at miramarairshow.com
kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @kristinadavis
San Diego is in the middle of the largest hepatitis A outbreak since the late 1990s, and despite efforts from the city, cases are likely to continue to rise.
The homeless population is disproportionately affected by the disease, as well as illicit drug users. This highly contagious disease can still be spread to the general population. Typically ingestion of fecal matter, even in microscopic amounts, is the root cause for transmission.
Caseload
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As of Sept. 19, San Diegos 444 cases represent more than a third of all cases that occur in the nation in any given year, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Californias rate of infection is slightly higher than the national average, but overall, hepatitis A is an uncommon disease.
How and where infection occurs
The San Diego County health department reports that the majority of those sickened are either homeless or illicit drug users. Still, 35 percent of infections arent part of those populations.
Its most common for foreign travel to be the root cause for a hepatitis A infection in California.
Cleanup efforts
The city of San Diego has started street cleaning in order to remove human waste from the streets, as well as set up some portable bathrooms in downtown.
The city is also offering vaccinations for people who may be at risk. Additionally, one case of hepatitis A was discovered at the World Famous restaurant in Pacific Beach. Given the long incubation period, its difficult for health authorities to say if that case spread further.
San Diegos outbreak differs from previous ones because it hasnt been tied to a single food source. In response to the outbreak, Mayor Kevin Faulconer plans to house several hundred homeless people in tents, giving them access to restrooms and showers.
That wont be ready until the end of the year.
Additionally, streets downtown have been bleached and restrooms installed across the city in areas where the homeless congregate.
Hepatitis A is an infection of the liver and creates jaundiced eyes, fever, fatigue, abdominal pain, dark urine and clay-colored bowel movements. It is also asymptomatic in some people.
Washing your hands can prevent most infections, as well as getting vaccinated.
Learn more about hepatitis A on our podcast
Graphic sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, San Diego County Health Department.
Data Watch Videos On Now Data Point: Media Mergers 2:58 On Now Jaywalking infractions in San Diego 1:24 On Now Video: Finding the recipe for the perfect burrito 2:09 On Now Video: Where marijuana is legal in the United States 0:53 On Now Report: Correctional system fails women 1:22 On Now San Diego students have larger classes On Now Hierarchy of cuisine prices On Now Pay phones: Is that still a thing? On Now 2016 border apprehensions On Now STD trends, San Diego County
Reach the writer at: daniel.wheaton@sduniontribune.com or @theheroofthyme
Dozens of homeless folks on Thursday morning were sprawled out in the courtyard on 15th and Commercial streets outside of Father Joes Villages.
The crowd some listening to music on headphones and most toting multiple pieces of luggage gathered for a free lunch doled out regularly by the homeless shelter in East Village.
Frazier Johnson waited patiently among them as a line for food began to form around 11 a.m. The calm 47-year-old wore a fresh long-sleeved t-shirt and a white goatee framing a healthy looking face.
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Johnson said he closely tracks his meal times because they determine when he will need to be near one of the public restrooms accessible to the down-and-out.
If you dont then youre going to have a situation on your hands, he said with a soft smile and dark, lucid eyes.
Johnson, who arrived from Texas a few months ago, said finding a clean bathroom in downtown San Diego can be challenging. However, he doesnt blame local officials.
Theres not enough bathrooms, but if the city puts in bathrooms, you have a whole lot of homeless people that dont appreciate it, he said. Theyre going to go in there and do drugs. Theyre going to mess the place up. So the city has a heck of a problem to overcome.
One of the most frequently used public restroom is located just steps away through the doors of St. Vincent de Paul Village, which as part of Father Joes Villages, is the largest residential service provider for the homeless in the county.
The state and availability of such facilities has recently received intense scrutiny as the region grapples with a massive outbreak of hepatitis A that has killed 16 and stricken 444 people. Health officials believe the eruption of cases, which has now spread to Santa Cruz and Los Angeles, proliferated among the homeless as a result of poor sanitation and drug use.
Deacon Jim Vargas with Father Joes Villages had just finished giving his second news conference in as many days that morning, detailing efforts to keep facilities clean and combat the potentially deadly virus.
The nature of public restrooms in general is its a messy business, Vargas said. We are now having to clean those restrooms every two hours, far more than you would normally clean a restroom because of the clientele we have here. Some of them have mental health issues. Some have substance abuse issues. And that plays itself out in these public restrooms.
The mens room has two stalls, three urinals and a foul smell despite having recently been washed down. Some homeless people said that, like many restrooms that are open 24 hours a day, its not a place they frequent after dark because its a hot spot for meth and heroin use.
Large fans will be installed in the restrooms within a few weeks for the sole purpose of preventing people from using lighters in the facility, Vargas said, pretending to cook drugs in a spoon with his hands. It will blow out the flame and they wont be able to accomplish their goal there of shooting up, basically.
That could help keep the bathroom clear for folks who want to use it for its intended purpose, such as Marcos Vasquez. The 38-year-old has been homeless on and off for the last three years, and he says that while he does his best to make it to the public restrooms, many dont.
A lot of them are alcoholics that are too drunk or too wasted to go down the street and time it, Vasquez said of those who defecate in public, either into trash bags or directly onto the street. They dont care.
Ive had to clean the sidewalks myself off where I camp at, he added. Its gross.
Mayor Kevin Faulconer has ramped up efforts in recent weeks to combat the outbreak of hepatitis A. More than 28,000 people have received vaccinations, and crews have started power washing and bleaching sidewalks downtown.
The city recently added four portable toilets at the corner of C Street and 1st Avenue and another four at 14th and G streets. The facilities are cleaned at least twice a day and monitored around the clock by security guards. City officials said they would install another bank of such toilets in the East Village next week.
Homeless residents currently have access to about five 24-hour public restrooms in the citys urban core. There are more than a dozen other such facilities in downtown including those only open during the day and those along the distant waterfront. City officials said they are looking for locations to place additional temporary toilets.
Downtown property owners with space for portable restrooms are encouraged to contact the city with their willingness to be part of the solution to this public health emergency, said Katie Keach, director of communications for the city. If a site is workable and near at-risk populations, the city will arrange for the installation, maintenance and security of each restroom.
Down the block from Father Joes Villages at the Neil Good Day Center on 17th and K streets next to Interstate 5, homeless have access during the day to a bathroom and on Tuesdays and Thursdays free hepatitis A vaccinations.
We really need restrooms out here desperately, Steven Hillard, 52, whos been homeless for seven years, said on Thursday outside the center. Its just crowded. The lines are long or somebodys taking too long because they got to doctor themselves up in the bathroom not really using it.
Sometimes, I got to water the trees down or spread a little love in the dirt, he added.
Many people said that they would occasionally buy something cheap at a fast food restaurant or at a store, such as Walmart, just to use the bathroom. However, multiple people said that many retailers in and around downtown have started limiting the hours their restrooms are open to the public.
Two public restrooms outside of Halcyon coffee house in Fault Line Park at Island Ave and 14th Street were closed on and off for more than a year, despite developer Pinnacle International having received $1.6 million to maintain the bathrooms and open space.
Thursday afternoon, a number of homeless people hung out around the park using the restrooms, which were recently reopened after the city got wind of the situation. One of them, James David, 45, scrubbed down a pair of pants at one of the many hand-washing stations the city has placed around downtown in response to the outbreak.
I know were homeless, but were people, too, Davis said. We have to stay healthy so you stay healthy.
A few hours later, at one of most heavily trafficked public restrooms in downtown, located at C Street and 3rd Avenue near City Hall, an attendant sat in a booth behind a plastic window buzzing in people, up to two at a time.
Ive got diabetes so I need to be close to a bathroom, said 52-year-old Derek Williams. But this place is disgusting. Thats why I stay in Balboa Park because they have more bathrooms over there.
There are about 28 bathrooms in Balboa Park, half of which are now open 24 hours a day, according to city officials.
As night falls, Alvin Nelson, 54, makes his way from downtown to a restroom facility in Ruocco Park along the waterfront at Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway. Wearing a baggy t-shirt and a Bluetooth speaker dangling from a chain around his neck, he listened to a mix of rap and 60s-era pop.
These restrooms are clean but you have to watch out for the Harbor Police, he said. He likes to fill a small bucket in the sink and then wash himself in the stall so as not to attract attention.
A little bird bath, so if anyones walking by, you dont hassle nobody, he said.
The Port of San Diego said its officers make a point to treat everyone including the homeless with respect and dignity.
Along the way, Nelson meets up with John Lofton, 54, whos been homeless for the last three years. Chatting about the state of public restrooms, Lofton recalls the Portland Loo that the city removed from 14th and L streets next to the Petco Park parking lot. It was ripped out by the city in 2016 after about a year in operation, during which time businesses owners and residents complained about drugs, crime and lewd activity near the facility.
It used to be a rarity to see feces on the ground, Lofton said. Now its a commonplace thing. These people are acting like animals because people are treating them like animals.
Twitter: @jemersmith
Phone: (619) 293-2234
Email: joshua.smith@sduniontribune.com
People in Los Angeles must be pretty annoyed with us these days. We keep sending them things they dont want. First, the Chargers. Now, hepatitis.
The hepatitis A outbreak is still a San Diego phenomenon, but it has grown tentacles. San Diego-related cases have been identified in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz and Imperial County. Their numbers are a fraction of San Diegos only one case in Imperial County, 10 reported in Los Angeles last week but its not lost on our neighbors that it started off small here last fall.
All but two cases in L.A. were traced to San Diego.
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As of Friday, San Diego had 16 hepatitis fatalities, with two more under investigation, and a total of 444 afflicted. No deaths had been reported in those other counties.
There hasnt been civic animus from those regions directed toward San Diego, at least publicly, probably because they have their own precarious homeless and sanitation problems that could explode at any time. Los Angeles skid row has been joined by encampments on overpasses and elsewhere. The homeless numbers in that county have skyrocketed in just the past year.
The hepatitis scourge has seemingly leapfrogged over Orange County for now but officials there are holding their breaths. The city of Anaheim recently declared a homeless emergency, largely because of the hundreds-strong homeless encampment along the Santa Ana River bed. Local agencies are providing some services, but not restrooms.
That is viewed with a sense of foreboding from San Diego, where the lack of decent public restrooms has created a sanitation nightmare that health officials say has contributed to the spread of hepatitis.
One lesson learned from San Diego was to act fast. Los Angeles already had been washing down sidewalks and public rights of way where sanitation is an issue, an ongoing practice from previous viral and sanitation concerns. But county health officials there formally declared a hepatitis outbreak just this past week as they announced the 10 cases.
San Diego county and city officials have taken criticism for waiting to declare an emergency just this month, given that they officially determined an outbreak existed in March, with the first case identified in November.
An image problem? Ya think?
Just because our neighbors arent badmouthing San Diego, that doesnt mean the citys image isnt taking a big hit. The hepatitis outbreak has become national news several times over.
This was once considered a problem among the homeless and largely ignored by the public. Now it has temporarily closed one restaurant, scared off one convention (though local officials suggest the outbreak was used as an excuse) and has required a broad effort by the hotel and tourism industry to calm the nerves of groups planning to visit.
While public health workers are working hard to improve the situation, you can almost sense civic leaders praying for a light at the end of the tunnel. But things may well get worse before they get better.
The city and county finally launched a public education campaign on Tuesday with recommendations on sanitation washing hands frequently is the big one and getting vaccinations. The determined, can-do vibe This is personal. This is our community. We will protect it, Mayor Kevin Faulconer said took a back seat to an ominous assessment.
Frankly, this outbreak could last for at least another six months, and unfortunately there are going to be more lives that are going to be at risk, said Dr. Nick Yphantides, the countys chief medical officer.
But the event had its intended effect. Residents lined up in droves to get vaccines at a free clinic outside City Hall while some medical groups said they were deluged with requests and calls.
Sniping as crisis grows
The were all in this together spirit wasnt universal, as City Councilman David Alvarez kept up his running criticism of Faulconer for being slow to act, and the mayors staff returning fire, questioning Alvarezs commitment to combating homelessness.
Then, after the Democratic council majority passed a resolution opposing President Donald Trumps enhanced border wall, the Republican mayors staff suggested council members had better things to do.
Faulconer spokeswoman Christina Chadwick called the resolution a distraction from the very real and immediate issues facing the city of San Diego right now.
Thats a slippery slope. Until hepatitis blew up into a crisis, the mayor was spending a fair amount of time addressing speculation that he might run for governor, making appearances and giving speeches out of town.
Two days after the council resolution, he appeared in a short promo for the ABC sitcom The Mayor, which premieres Tuesday.
The political toll
The mayor had been gliding through for a few years with public goodwill and relatively good relations with the council. But things have started to go south. The loss of the Chargers, despite extreme civic anguish, didnt dent his armor. A healthy economy and budget seemed to keep the city humming. However, the pension system and other issues are causing financial challenges. The council scuttled his plans for a November special election to expand the convention center and generate more funds for homeless programs and fix roads.
The slow pace of addressing increasing homelessness has been laid at his doorstep. And the criticism has been even harsher about whether he and others didnt take the hepatitis outbreak seriously enough early on.
Theres plenty of finger-pointing between the city and the county over who dropped the ball, but the only big-name player in all this is Kevin Faulconer.
Being associated with a hepatitis outbreak does not bode well for ones political future.
Tweet of the Week
Goes to Los Angeles Times (@latimes)
On last day of summer, California is hit by unusual snow and hail storms
For todays Back Story, reporter Peter Rowe discusses his Page One story about the anniversary of Alfred Olangos violent death in El Cajon.
Q. What galvanized the community a year ago and caused them to march in protest in the wake of the shooting?
A. You can and should expect an outcry whenever police shoot an unarmed man. (To be fair, Olango pointed something metallic at an officer. The object turned out to be a vaping device.) This incident, though, had national repercussions.
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Q. Why do you say that?
A. Olango was the latest in a long line of unarmed African-Americans from Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., to Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La. recently killed in controversial encounters with police. The Black Lives Matter movement took note, as did the Rev. Al Sharptons National Action Network.
Q. Is Americas long, tortured history on race relations the only prism through which this incident is viewed?
A. Not at all. Friends and family say Olango was in mental anguish, mourning the suicide of a friend. This incident highlighted how we respond or fail to respond to people in emotional distress.
Q. In speaking with community activists, are they satisfied with the progress that has been made in the past year with regard to police relations with the community?
A. Satisfied? Not at all. Yet many are encouraged by the large turnouts at demonstrations and community forums. Some, like the National Action Networks Rev. Shane Harris, say they have been stonewalled by the El Cajon Police Department. Others, like Bishop Cornelius Bowser and his Community Assistance Support Team (CAST) have been invited to address that same department.
Q. Did the shooting lead to any action in Sacramento?
A. A bill co-authored by South Bays Sen. Ben Hueso began by proposing a statewide system of independent civilian review boards to investigate police shootings. An amended version of that bill died in the Senate, and its prospects in the next legislative session are iffy.
Q. Doesnt San Diego have a citizens review board?
A. In fact it has two. National City and San Diego County have similar boards. Shortly before Olangos death, the county grand jury recommended that cities without these panels including El Cajon adopt them. Again, this proposal has national repercussions.
Q. How so?
A. A lot police reform groups, including the newly formed Alfred Olango Foundation, advocate measures that were backed by Eric Holder, President Obamas attorney general. Under President Trump, the current Justice Department opposes these moves, arguing they damage police morale and hinder their primary mission, law enforcement.
Q. In the Obama era, police departments received guidelines on implicit bias. What is that?
A. Thats the notion that everyone makes assumptions about others, based on their gender, race or other external characteristics.
Q. You spoke with El Cajon Police Chief Jeff Davis. How does he feel about implicit bias?
A. He noted that his officers are constantly trained to deal with people of many different cultures something thats essential in El Cajon, with its large refugee population.
Q. You also spoke to Apollo Olango. What are his feelings about his late brother, a year later?
A. Hes directed a lot of his energies to the Alfred Olango Foundation, which is dedicated to police reform. He seemed sad, determined and modest. Im learning as I go, he said.
Q. Has the family taken legal action against the city of El Cajon?
A. Yes, they filed numerous lawsuits against El Cajon and the officer who shot Olango. In August, one federal case against the city was dismissed, but the case against Officer Richard Gonsalves is going forward.
Other cases are pending, as well. Today theres no legal resolution to this tragedy, just as theres no final accounting in the court of public opinion.
Harbor police pulled a mans body from San Diego Bay Saturday afternoon near the Embarcadero Marina Park South.
Someone called police about 12:30 p.m. reporting what appeared to be a body in the water near the entrance of the marina behind the Marriott Marquis hotel in downtown San Diego, said Harbor police Lt. Chris Woodward.
Police boats recovered the unidentified mans remains.
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We have no information about where or how he ended up in the bay, Woodward said.
While there were no obvious signs of trauma to the body, the lieutenant said it is too early to tell how the man died. The Medical Examiners Office will determine the cause and manner of death.
kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @kristinadavis
Ahead of Gandhi Jayanti and the Swachh Bharat campaign anniversary, Narendra Modi spoke extensively on the Swachhta Hi Seva drive and thanked people for their active participation in it.
By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's monthly radio outreach Mann ki Baat completed three years today and Prime Minister Narendra Modi described it as a journey to understand people better.
In the 36th edition of the programme, Narendra Modi invoked Mahatma Gandhi and Deendayal Upadhyaya and said that they lived for the nation and wanted to do something for India.
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Ahead of Gandhi Jayanti and the Swachh Bharat anniversary, the Prime Minister today spoke extensively on the Swachhta Hi Seva campaign and thanked people for their active contribution towards it.
The Prime Minister also pitched for Incredible India campaign and urged youngsters to experience India's rich diversity.
HERE ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF NARENDRA MODI's MANN KI BAAT:
For value addition in tourism, we have to see India not just as a tourist but as a student; India needs to be internalised within Indians, said Prime Minister on Mann ki Baat.
PM @narendramodi urges people, specially youngsters to discover the wonders of #IncredibleIndia in the months to come. #MannKiBaat pic.twitter.com/V3gedpGWt1
- PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 24, 2017
Prime Minister urges people, especially youngsters, to discover Incredible India. Unity in diversity is not just a slogan but a source of strength for us, said Narendra Modi during Mann ki Baat.
Sardar Patel unified the nation. Let us always preserve this unity. #MannKiBaat pic.twitter.com/MzTjPUj7Gu- PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 24, 2017
Nanaji Deshmukh devoted his life towards the betterment of our villages, said the Prime Minister. Sardar Patel unified the nation, let us preserve this unity, Narendra Modi said on Mann ki Baat.
Be it Mahatma Gandhi, Shastri ji, Jaiprakash ji, Nanaji Deshmukh or Deendayal Upadhayay, they all lived for the country and wanted to do something for it; they not only preached this but practised this too, said Narendra Modi on Mann ki Baat. Narendra Modi invokes Mahatma Gandhi and Deendayal Upadhayay in Mann ki Baat. Credit: Twitter/@PMOIndia.
I congratulate 18-yr-old Bilal Dar, who has been made the brand ambassador for cleanliness by the Srinagar municipal corporation, said Narendra Modi on Mann ki Baat. Srinagar's Bilal Dar has cleaned more than 12,000 kg of garbage from the Dal Lake in a year, said the Prime Minister.
Role of media in furthering the cause of Swachh Bharat has been vital. Be it electronic or print media, they have demonstrated what Swachhata Hi Seva is about.
I am delighted to see the support towards Swachhata Hi Seva movement. People are actively contributing to a Swachh Bharat, said the Prime Minister on Mann ki Baat.
Let us support the movement for the growth of the Khadi sector, said Prime Minister on Mann ki Baat. The khadi ashram in Varanasi, which was closed down, is now operational.
This Gandhi Jayanti, let is buy a Khadi product and light the lamp of prosperity in the lives of the poor. #MannKiBaat pic.twitter.com/a8JIKezLjO- PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 24, 2017
I get a lot of feedback for Mann Ki Baat. I am not able to refer to all of it (in the programme) but the inputs help us in running the government.
Acharya Vinoba Bhave always said a 'non-governmental' way of functioning is more effective... I have tried to keep common man as the focus in Mann Ki Baat and kept it away from politics.
People are at the centre of #MannKiBaat. pic.twitter.com/kFRjU8fTXY- PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 24, 2017
In these three years, Mann ki Baat has been a journey of understanding people.
ALSO WATCH: Rajinikanth tweets and praises PM Modi's Swachh Bharat initiative
--- ENDS ---
Federal officers with drug-sniffing dogs found more than 500 pounds of methamphetamine, some disguised as bottles of laundry detergent, in three vehicles in San Ysidro and Calexico late in the week, authorities said.
A Mexican citizen with his two children in his SUV was arrested at the San Ysidro Port of Entry Thursday. He is accused of smuggling 212 pounds of meth into the United States, according to a complaint filed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
He told officers he was bringing groceries to his sister in Chula Vista, authorities said. An officer checked the food in the trunk and noticed liquid laundry soap containers on the back seat. Officers found six containers of white crystalized powder that tested positive as meth.
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The driver told officers hed bought the laundry soap at an Ensenada Sams Club and didnt know there were drugs inside.
Also on Thursday, in Calexico, CBP officers arrested an American citizen after finding 308 pounds of liquid meth in her pickup gas tank.
She told officers that shed met a man two months ago who gave her $2,500 for taking a vehicle into the U.S. from Tijuana. On this second trip, she was promised $3,000 and ownership of the 2001 Ford F-250 if she would take it to a fast-food restaurant in Calexico, authorities said.
In a third seizure on Friday, federal officers in Calexico found 20 packages of meth weighing a total of about 20 pounds in the spare tire of a Nissan Sentra. The woman driver, a U.S. citizen, was arrested.
Racial profiling, homelessness and mental health issues should be the top priorities for San Diegos next police chief, residents said Saturday at the first of six forums to discuss the selection of the citys next top law enforcement officer.
We need somebody who knows mental illness has no color, said forum participant Donna Alexander. This is about humanism.
San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman must retire in March after three years in the job, because in 2013 she joined the citys five-year deferred retirement program. The city has begun a search for her replacement, a process that includes the forums, a selection panel, a national executive search firm, and approval by the City Council.
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Alexander and more than 80 other residents took part in Saturdays event led by a professional facilitator at the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation on Euclid Avenue in Encanto. Participants met at round tables in groups of 10 to discuss their priorities for a new chief, and then a representative of each table presented a summary of their discussions to the overall gathering.
Several people, including Alexander, said the city should keep the candidate search local and look within the department.
We dont believe a national search is the answer, Alexander said. We need somebody who is homegrown from San Diego.
Racial profiling was a recurring theme at the forum, where many of the participants were black or Latino. The practice is all too common within the Police Department, residents said, especially to anyone living in neighborhoods south of Interstate 8.
We need a chief who is going to bring protection and safety to all our communities and not just profile our blacks and Latinos, said forum participant Lionel Smith.
An independent analysis of traffic stops compiled by San Diego State University researchers last year showed disparities in how often blacks and Latinos are searched and questioned. However, Zimmerman and other department officials have said the analysis showed no racial bias, and that blacks and Latinos are pulled over no more frequently than whites.
There is a culture in the Police Department that defends racial profiling, said forum participant Pat Bevelyn, adding that the practice is counterproductive and should be ended.
That blue code of silence has to be addressed, and it really has to be ended, she said. The main thing we want is a change for the better, where all citizens are treated equally.
Profiling is not always racial, residents said. It also can apply to the homeless, the poor and the mentally ill.
We need (police officers) to be properly trained for mental illness, said participant Christie Figueroa. Dont just pull out your guns on them it never ends well.
Too many police officers are too young, said Regina Jackson-Patton. The city needs to recruit older, more seasoned officers who can relate better to the residents.
We need people who can see themselves in us and our community, she said.
The San Diego department has struggled with recruiting and retention in recent years. Applications are down and vacancies are up.
Other residents called for more transparency in the police chief selection process and in the day-to-day operation of the department. They asked for more information such as crime reports and investigations to be available online for the public.
San Diego officials initially scheduled four of the community forums, then added two more in response to complaints that the process would not include enough input from neighborhoods with large minority populations.
San Diego Chief Operating Officer Scott Chadwick delivered opening and closing remarks Saturday.
We want to know what you want to see in our next police chief, Chadwick told the participants. We want the best candidate for the city of San Diego.
The forums will continue in neighborhoods across San Diego through mid-October. For more information, or to fill out an online survey, visit sandiego.gov/police/about/next-police-chief.
philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @phildiehl
The two best known candidates for the county Board of Supervisors first faced off five years ago, when they both sought to become the next San Diego mayor.
Neither Bonnie Dumanis nor Nathan Fletcher made it past the 2012 primary election. And both share a history of tainted political contributions ending up in their treasury.
Dumanis, the Republican former district attorney, and Fletcher, a former Republican state legislator who became a Democrat, received thousands of dollars from San Diego towing companies that were later found to have violated city campaign rules by funneling money through their drivers and others to mask the true source of contributions.
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In different ways, both had a role in a more serious political scandal that continues to reverberate today the intervention into local elections by a tycoon from Mexico who now has been convicted of 36 federal charges and is facing years in federal prison. The D.A.s mayoral bid benefited from hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal political spending. Fletcher and his team turned away the foreign donations, according to a federal indictment.
In prepared statements, Dumanis and Fletcher representatives said their candidates were blindsided by the improper financial support. They pledged to make sure illegal donations do not make their way into the supervisorial campaigns as they compete to replace Supervisor Ron Roberts, who cannot run for re-election because of term limits.
It is more important than ever that we be vigilant in reviewing each contribution and protecting Bonnie and the campaign, Dumanis consultant Jason Roe said. Weve put in safeguards to provide additional levels of review as necessary and are very sensitive to any donations that could be questionable.
The Fletcher team also said it was carefully following election laws, even informing donors of the rules before they contribute.
When we discover errors or are notified of an inappropriate contribution being made without our knowledge, we take immediate action and return the donations, consultant Dan Rottenstreich said.
Fletcher is pressing to create a county task force similar to the citys ethics commission, his campaign said. It would enforce campaign-finance laws and toughen oversight of county officials.
In the 2012 primary election, Dumanis and Fletcher finished behind Bob Filner and Carl DeMaio. Filner captured the mayors seat but resigned in August 2013 amid sexual-harassment allegations.
Fletcher ran for mayor in the ensuing special election but again failed to make the runoff. Dumanis was re-elected as DA in 2014 and resigned in July of this year in anticipation of her supervisor run.
The tow business
The San Diego Ethics Commission began looking into so-called straw donors within the tow industry in 2013, after a spate of suspicious contributions were reported in election disclosures.
At the same time, federal investigators opened a review of their own. By January 2014, the U.S. Attorneys Office announced criminal charges against four people in an illegal-donations scheme, including Jose Susumo Azano Matsura, a Mexican national and industrialist with two homes in Coronado.
Dumanis was re-elected as district attorney that June despite the revelation that she received more than $200,000 in support from Azano through straw donations and an independent expenditure committee.
In November 2014 the ethics panel issued a $20,000 fine to Amir Iravani, owner of NK Towing and Roadside Services, for reimbursing employees $500 each for donations to Dumaniss failed mayoral campaign.
Campaign money laundering undermines the integrity of the citys elections, commission Vice Chair Clyde Fuller said when the penalty was announced. As evidenced by the stipulations approved today, anyone who participates in this illegal practice will be held accountable.
Dumanis campaign reports show at least $3,200 in contributions from Iravani and other people with ties to NK Towing.
The case against NK Towing was just the beginning of the citys deep dive into illegal campaign contributions. By 2015, city ethics investigators had broadened their review to include Angelos Towing and Advantage Towing.
Angelos Towing owner Nashwan Habib, his family and employees donated more than $11,000 to Dumanis in recent elections. They also gave at least $1,500 to Fletchers 2012 campaign.
The Angelos Towing investigation was closed without charges. But last year, Advantage Towings Ayman Arekat was handed a record fine of $128,000 for laundering thousands of dollars in political contributions.
In total, Arekat acknowledged 32 violations related to illegal contributions to Dumanis, Fletcher and DeMaio. Arekat also gave $21,000 to three committees that supported DeMaio and Filner.
The purpose of the donations has never been clear, although tow companies do a lot of business with local governments. Thousands of cars are towed every year after crashes, drunk driving arrests or other crimes.
Each of the tow companies whose owners or employees donated to 2012 mayoral candidates hold contracts with the city of San Diego to transport cars after they are crashed or impounded.
The industry can be lucrative. Arekat told the ethics commission his business generates about $300,000 per month, and his contract work for the city amounted to $5,000 or $6,000 of that.
Azano connection
Early in December 2011, Bonnie Dumanis celebrated her 60th birthday with a fundraiser at the Cuvier Club, a La Jolla ballroom and reception venue. The event netted over $17,000 for her budding mayoral campaign.
Three weeks later, Dumanis held another successful fundraiser, generating more than $28,000 and pushing her total contributions for the year past $470,000, campaign filings show.
The Dec. 29 event attracted more than cash. It brought together an unusual assortment of gas station and convenience store owners, exotic car dealers and their staff, tow-truck operators and the wife and son of Azano, the Mexican tycoon.
Most of the contributors gave the maximum $500, whether they owned a luxury dealership or simply sold cars, whether they operated tow companies or merely drove the trucks.
Azanos wife, Margarita Hester de Azano, and son Susu were among those who attended the late December fundraiser. In the federal indictment, prosecutors said Azano illegally injected more than $500,000 into San Diego political races, including reimbursing donors to the Dumanis campaign tens of thousands of dollars.
I need to get a $500 check from you to help Susu and his father support the soon to be Mayor Bonnie Dumanis, one straw donor wrote to friends in 2011. We will give you the cash right away so you wont lose any money but your support is appreciated and very much needed.
Dumanis and her fundraising practices drew a lot of attention and criticism when she was called to testify at the trial last year. Azano, his son and three others were convicted.
Dozens of Dumanis donors also had ties to the unpermitted pot business, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in April. Many of those donations were given as the San Diego City Attorneys Office pressed lawsuits against dispensary operators and their landlords. None of the donors faced criminal charges.
Dumanis told the Union-Tribune she had no idea she accepted more than $18,000 from pot shop operators, landlords or their attorneys. She said she knew tow-truck owners supported her, but was unaware they laundered donations until the ethics commission announcement.
The civil actions against some of those mentioned were not filed until after my elections were over, Dumanis said.
Explore the motivation
The Neighborhood Market Association political-action committee donated $5,000 to Fletchers campaign in 2012, records show. When Fletcher ran a second time, the committee spent more than $120,000 to help get him elected.
The NMA openly supports candidates and officials whose mission aligns closely with ours, association chairman Amad Attisha said.
One $10,000 contribution from the association to Fletcher was not properly disclosed, according to a May 2014 warning letter from the California Fair Political Practices Commission.
The Fletcher for Mayor 2013 committee also was scrutinized by the city ethics commission. Two years later, Fletcher admitted accepting improper donations.
Fletcher and his treasurer violated rules by filing a campaign statement that erroneously disclosed receipt of three contributions for $1,000 each from (Fernando) Aguerres children, when in fact these contributions were made with funds belonging to Aguerre, the order states.
The violators agreed to pay a fine of $3,000.
Experts say it can be difficult for politicians to study individual donors to make sure they meet election rules and do not make their living from a dubious business.
Its hard to say it is incumbent on them to go beyond the law, although politically it would be smart, said Joel Aberbach, a political science professor at the University of California Los Angeles. You wouldnt want a story saying Candidate X took money from Criminal A, B or C.
The question is whats reasonable, he said. For politicians, particularly on large contributions, its probably a best practice to find out something about the donor, simply for self-defense.
Former District Attorney Paul Pfingst, who lost to Dumanis in 2002, said it is impractical to research every donor. But he said candidates should proceed on instinct and appearance.
If there is something unusual about the contributions then you should look at it, he said. The larger the amount, the larger the obligation to determine where it came from.
Dumanis said she has run seven campaigns and always built a professional team that follows the law and campaign rules.
I respect the people of San Diego who have elected me as their District Attorney four times, she said in a statement. I believe they have confidence my campaigns are conducted legally and with the highest ethical standards.
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jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 24 (PTI) A committee set up by the Health Ministry to review its guidelines on seasonal influenza vaccination (H1N1), in the wake of a spurt in swine flu cases, has said there is "no need" for mass vaccination.
The committee, headed by Dr A C Dhariwal, Director of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has also suggested vaccinating people aged over 65 and children six months to eight years on a case-by-case basis.
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Swine flu has killed 1,714 people this year, six times the fatalities recorded last year, with a total of 34,009 cases reported across the country till September 17.
As a result, the demand for vaccines has shot up across the country.
"There is an increase in the demand for vaccines from states. However, globally, studies have shown that vaccination provides 60-70 per cent protection from the virus for about a year. Also, it takes at least two weeks for immunity to develop," said a senior health ministry official.
"The committee, in its report, has stated that mass vaccination is not recommended," the official said.
The ministry had earlier this month constituted the committee to redefine categories to be vaccinated on priority on the basis of the areas most hit by swine flu by revisting its guidelines on seasonal influenza vaccination (H1N1).
According to the existing guidelines, vaccination is recommended for pregnant women, persons with chronic illnesses and co-morbid conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and an impaired immune system.
It also recommends vaccination for health care workers in hospitals and institutional settings with a likelihood of exposure to influenza virus.
The guidelines state that elderly individuals above the age of 65 and children six months to eight years should also be vaccinated.
"At a meeting, some states said if we consider all these age groups and conditions, then the demand exceeds the availability of vaccines in the market.
"To meet this challenge, the committee was constituted to determine who all in the community should be vaccinated on the basis of high-risk zones," Dr Dhariwal said.
Till September 17, 568 people have succumbed to H1N1 infections in Maharashtra, 413 have died in Gujarat, 165 in Rajasthan and 86 in Uttar Pradesh.
Swine flu is a respiratory flu and has symptoms such as fever, sore throat, headache, cough, runny nose, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting.
It is highly contagious and spreads quickly from person to person. It was declared a pandemic in 2009 by the World Health Organisation. PTI PLB GVS
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By PTI: next level
(Eds: Repeating after correcting a word in intro)
By Lalit K Jha
Washington, Sep 24 (PTI) US Defence Secretary James Mattis will seek to take the India-US defence ties to the next level during his visit to India this week, with discussion on F-16s and the security situation in the region likely to dominate the agenda.
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Firmly of the view that a stronger India ? both in terms of military and economy ? is in Americas national interest, Mattis would meet his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman, National Security Advisor Ajit K Doval and also call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This is the first Cabinet-level visit to India under the Trump administration.
Informed sources familiar with the preparations of the visit told PTI that the trip would be used to develop new institutional mechanisms to elevate the status of India-US defense relationship, showcase enhanced strategic co-operation in Afghanistan and strengthen maritime security and rule of law in the Indo-Pacific region.
While no specific defence trade deal is likely to be announced during Mattis? India visit on September 26-27, sources said there would be discussions on two specific proposals of F-16 and F-18A under Modis Make in India campaign, along with efforts to identify new projects under the ambitious Defence Technology and Trade Initiatives (DTTI).
The Trump administration wants to sell F-18 and F-16 fighter planes to India, built by American companies Boeing and Lockheed Martin respectively. Both companies have offered to assemble these planes in India.
Ahead of his visit, Mattis met Indian Ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna at the Pentagon.
And in a rarest of the rare gesture, Mattis came down to the River side entrance of the Pentagon to receive Sarna.
The Indian envoy said meeting was "very positive and cordial."
And after the meeting, the Defense Secretary came down to see him off.
This is also the first follow up visit by a US cabinet official after Modis June trip to the US. During the visit, the two countries are expected to review the defence and strategic decisions taken by Modi and US President Donald Trump in June.
During his India visit, Mattis is likely to talk with Sitharaman and other Indian leaders on the new Afghan strategy and the Indo-Pacific region.
Trump while announcing his new Afghan policy had asked India to do more to help Afghanistan with its developmental needs.
According to officials, Mattis is interested in accelerating the pace of India-US defense co-operation and making it an effective tool in achieving the goal of peace and stability in the entire region ranging from South Asia to Indo-Pacific region.
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Mattis, it is learnt, is taking along with him some of his own ideas in this regard, which he would like to discuss with the Indian leadership and get their feedback.
And to take the relationship to the next level, including more exercise and sale of high-tech defence equipment, the Pentagon instead of the foundational agreements is now looking for some India specific documentation that would provide institutional mechanisms, address Indias concerns and meet the Congressional-mandated legislative requirements in this regard.
This could be seen as a major climbdown, as India had been resisting from signing any foundational agreements for the past several years because of sovereignty concerns.
In his interaction with the Indian leaders, Mattis is also expected to discuss how to advance and Major Defense Partnership, a designation given to India by the previous Obama Administration which has been continued by the Trump Administration.
Mattis India visit comes in less than a week after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had her first bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session. PTI LKJ NSA
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By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 24 (PTI) Max Healthcare is bringing its domain expertise in patient care to people within the environs of their homes with the launch of its new vertical Max@Home, a senior company official said.
Under the new initiative, the healthcare major plans to offer a total of 17 types of services, out of which it has launched nine in the first phase, including nursing, patient care attendants and pathology services.
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To begin with, the company is focusing on the National Capital Region (NCR) along with Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali, with plans to add other cities going forward.
"The idea of Max@Home came from certain big trends in healthcare that we were noticing, such as disappearance of family doctors especially in metros and urban centres and people coming to tertiary hospitals for even basic and simple things," Max Healthcare Senior Director and Chief Growth Officer Rohit Kapoor told PTI.
The new vertical facilitates real-time patient monitoring by connecting doctors, dedicated case managers, trained nursing staff and emergency services through an efficient technology-infrastructure, he added.
Max@Home plans to cover the whole spectrum from wellness to curative, backed by Max Healthcares hospital network, Kapoor said.
The homecare services will be provided through a team of over 300 trained staff. It will address a growing demand for long-stay and palliative care even in tertiary specialisations like cardiology, oncology, neurology and orthopaedics, he added.
"We have forayed in to this new vertical under the Max@Home brand and started with NCR, Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali. It is a standalone business unit of Max Healthcare," Kapoor said.
On the choice of NCR for launching the service, he said, "We are geographically very concentrated here. We have 11 hospitals in the NCR. We have proximity".
From next year, the company plans to expand it to other parts of North India, Kapoor said.
Asked how the company plans to fund the expansion, he said: "For us the expenditure will not be much, because we have the advantage of customer flow with us. For us the investment is mainly in technology and in people."
For technology platform the company has partnered with Wipro. It is a completely mobile based platform, Kapoor said. PTI AKT RKL ABM
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TIMMONSVILLE, S.C. Johnson Middle School in Timmonsville is hosting the Strengthening Families Program for the first time in school history.
The program is designed to improve communication between parents and children, help families plan goals and motivate them to meet those goals.
Starting today, the group will meet at 6 p.m. on Mondays to complete the 14-week course.
The night begins with a family meal. Then, parents and children go into separate training sessions for one hour. The sessions are led by group leaders who are trained in the Strengthening Families Program curriculum. To end the evening, families come back together for a 30-minute family skills training session.
Alexis Pipkins, executive director of Lee County First Steps, has overseen the training in other area locations.
Pipkins said the Strengthening Families Program can influence positive changes in family dynamics such as eliminating abuse and neglect, increasing good behavior and helping parents brainstorm new parenting strategies.
Pipkins said he is excited about bringing the program to Timmonsville. However, a participant does not have to live in Timmonsville to attend. The program is for anyone interested in strengthening their family. There is a limit of 15 families per program.
To sign up, those interested can call the Lee County First Steps Office at 803-484-5110 or site coordinator Diana Williams at 803-428-7869.
Transportation can be provided upon request.
The Strengthening Families Program is funded by the Childrens Trust of South Carolina in partnership with the Department of Social Services and Duke Endowment.
18-year-old Bilal Dar was mentioned by PM Modi in his Mann Ki Baat address on Sunday morning. The brand ambassador of cleanliness in Srinagar has appealed to the PM to give him a job.
By Praveen Shekhar: Bilal Dar, an 18-year-old boy from Bandipora district of North Kashmir, who was mentioned by Prime Minister in his Mann ki Baat radio address today has thanked PM Modi.
Dar also appealed to PM Modi to provide him a job as his family did not have any regular source of income.
PM Modi on Sunday addressed the nation on the third anniversary of his Mann ki Baat radio programme, saying an ideological movement is needed to make cleanliness a norm across the country. This was the 36th episode of Mann Ki Baat.
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During the address, PM also lauded Kashmiri youth Dar's effort for cleaning up Wular lake in Bandipora district of north Kashmir.
"I congratulate 18-year-old Bilal Dar, who has been made a brand ambassador for cleanliness by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation. He cleaned more than 12,000 kgs of garbage from the Dal Lake in a year," said the Prime Minister.
Who is Bilal Dar?
Bilal Dar, is an 18-year-old ragpicker who earns his living by picking up waste from the Wular Lake in Bandipora district of north Kashmir. He has taken upon himself to clean Wular Lake single-handedly. For almost five years now, Dar, a resident of Laharwarpora of Bandipora district, has been removing plastic trash from the lake and selling it for around Rs 150-200 per day, which helps him support his mother Mughali and two sisters. Dar's father Mohammad Ramzan Dar, a rag picker on the Wular himself, died of cancer in 2003. After his father's death, Bilal was burdened with the responsibility of looking after his family; he left his studies to fend for them. He had tried his hands at several attempts like that of working as a mechanic at an auto-repair shop, as a helping hand at a tea shop - but none lasted for more than a while. Braving several odds, Bilal continued to do his work on the lake. Bilal recalled that he had received no help or cooperation from the general public. Infamous for toxic debris, plastic, carcasses and much more, Wular Lake has been on the verge of dying, reducing from 273 km to just 72 km of water expanse. Bilal is reported to have cleared about 12,000 kgs of trash from the lake annually. On 15 July 2017, Bilal Dar was appointed brand ambassador of cleanliness by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC). "He will be our brand ambassador. He is an inspiration for everybody. He has been earning his livelihood by cleaning the Wular Lake and removing garbage, used bottles and shoes among other things for many years now," said Dr Shafqat Khan, SMC commissioner. He has been asked to supervise the mission. He educates others about the importance of cleanliness. As a brand ambassador of the SMC, Bilal was given a special uniform and a vehicle to go and meet people in commercial and residential areas. He has been asked to supervise the mission. He educates others about the importance of cleanliness. Bilal is being seen as a cleanliness crusader for his commitment to environmental causes. He interacts with people and sensitise them about environmental issues, cleanliness and garbage disposal. Bilal features in a documentary 'Saving The Savior - Story Of A Kid And Wular Lake.' The documentary produced and directed by Jalal-u-Din Baba depicts the life of Bilal. He has become an inspiring figure. The Logical Indian community appreciates the work that Bilal has been carrying out on the Wular lake of Kashmir. Kashmir is known as the 'paradise on Earth' and Bilal is surely doing his part in keeping it that way. He is an inspiration to all and a real example of the proverb 'Rome was not built in a day.'
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A 10th grade student stunned the Social Welfare Minister Anjaneya by throwing a challenge at him on Saturday.
By India Today Television: A 10th grade student stunned the Social Welfare Minister Anjaneya by throwing a challenge at him on Saturday.
The minister had come to inaugurate a district-level talent competition orgainsed by Vidyavikasa School in Chitradurga.
The student identified as Nayana Jogi told the minister after the programme, "Don't just lecture, provide basic amenities in government schools , I will leave private school and join government school. Is this possible for you?"
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The minister Anjaneya only stated in response that all facilities she was asking in government schools has already been provided.
During his speech, he had appealed to the students to join government schools.
She further told the minister, "In Chitradurga district, if proper facilities are given to government schools, am ready to study PUC in government college. But, there is no proper classroom, atmosphere is not conducive to study. You provide all that I will join and also get 30 students to join along with me."
She added that she wants to study in a government school, but her parents are against that. To this, the minister told her to change her parents mindset. She then retorted that for this to happen it's the government's duty to provide good facilities.
Later, while speaking to the media, she said, "I had appealed to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also last year, but nothing has been done."
She further added that unless the children of elected representatives study in government schools the conditions of government schools will not improve.
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Rhetoric between North Korea and the US escalated once again with Pyongyang saying that targeting the American mainland with missiles was inevitable. In a related development, US bombers flew off the coast of North Korea in a show of force
By Reuters: North Korea said on Saturday targeting the US mainland with its rockets was inevitable after "Mr. Evil President" Donald Trump called Pyongyang's leader "rocket man", further escalating rhetoric over the North's nuclear weapons and missile programs.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho's remarks to the United Nations General Assembly came hours after US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers escorted by fighters flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea in a show of force the Pentagon said showed the range of military options available to Trump.
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Ri's speech capped a week of rising tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, with Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un trading insults. Trump called Kim a "madman" on Friday, a day after Kim dubbed him a "mentally deranged US dotard."
Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2017
On Saturday, the mudslinging continued with Ri calling Trump "a mentally deranged person full of megalomania and complacency" who is trying to turn the United Nations into a "gangsters' nest". Ri said Trump himself was on a "suicide mission" after the US president had said Kim was on such a mission.
"'President Evil' is holding the seat of the US President," Ri said, warning that Pyongyang was ready to defend itself if the United States showed any sign of conducting a "decapitating operation on our headquarters or military attack against our country".
"Now we are finally only a few steps away from the final gate of completion of the state nuclear force," Ri told the annual gathering of world leaders.
He said sanctions would have no effect on Pyongyang's resolve to develop its nuclear weapons, with the ultimate goal being "balance of power with the US"
Trump announced new US sanctions on Thursday that he said allow targeting of companies and institutions that finance and facilitate trade with North Korea.
Earlier this month the UN Security Council unanimously adopted its ninth round of sanctions on Pyongyang to counter its nuclear and ballistic missiles programs.
The US bombers' flight was the farthest north of the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea that any US fighter jet or bomber has flown in the 21st century, the Pentagon said.
"This mission is a demonstration of US resolve and a clear message that the President has many military options to defeat any threat," said Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White.
"We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the US homeland and our allies."
PROVOCATION
North Korea has launched dozens of missiles this year, several flying over Japan, as it accelerates its program aimed at enabling it to target the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile.
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Pyongyang conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sept. 3 and has threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific.
Ri met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after delivering his speech. Guterres expressed concern to Ri over the escalating tensions and appealed for de-escalation, the United Nations said in a statement.
The Pentagon said the B-1B bombers came from Guam and their US Air Force F-15C Eagle fighter escorts came from Okinawa, Japan. Previous shows of force with bombers have stayed south of the demilitarized zone.
The patrols came after officials and experts said a small earthquake near North Korea's nuclear test site on Saturday was probably not man-made, easing fears Pyongyang had exploded another nuclear bomb just weeks after its last one.
China's Earthquake Administration said the quake was not a nuclear explosion and had the characteristics of a natural tremor.
The CTBTO, or Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty Organization, which monitors nuclear tests, and officials of the South Korean meteorological agency also said they believed it was a natural quake.
The earthquake, which South Korea's Meteorological Agency put at magnitude 3.0, was detected 49 km from Kilju in North Hamgyong Province, where North Korea's known Punggye-ri nuclear site is located, the official said.
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All North Korea's nuclear tests registered as earthquakes of magnitude 4.3 or above. The last registered as a magnitude 6.3.
Tensions have continued to rise around the Korean Peninsula since Pyongyang carried out its sixth test, prompting a new round of UN sanctions.
Trump told the United Nations on Tuesday the United States would "totally destroy" North Korea if it threatened the United States or its allies.
North Korea's nuclear tests to date have all been underground, and experts say an atmospheric test, which would be the first since one by China in 1980, would be proof of the success of its weapons program.
The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce and not a peace treaty.
The North accuses the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, of planning to invade and regularly threatens to destroy it and its Asian allies.
WATCH | Trump urges UN member states to isolate Kim govt until it ceases its hostile behavior
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Press Release
September 24, 2017 Legarda on CHED, SUCs Budget: 'Knowledge is Power' Citing the famous adage, "Knowledge is Power," Senator Loren Legarda stressed the importance of providing sufficient funding for higher education, especially for state universities and colleges (SUCs), to shape knowledgeable communities. During the hearing on the proposed 2018 budget of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and SUCs, Legarda said that funding the needs of the country's public tertiary education would encourage more students to enroll in SUCs, including in Science, Technology, Engineering, Agri-Fisheries and Mathematics (STEAM) courses. In line with this, Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, provided additional 10 million pesos for capital outlay for all SUCs and committed to look for additional funds to provide free Wi-Fi in all SUCs, even as she assured that the Senate will find the budget to implement the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. "According to the CHED, enrollment in STEAM courses, even in Agri-Fisheries, has been rising. In order to maintain an upward trend in STEAM enrollment, SUCs must have the equipment, special laboratories, expert trainers and teachers, and scholarship programs needed for the teachers to be able to be competent in giving our students the best STEAM education," she explained. "We cannot have leaking classrooms, unpainted buildings, and dirty waterless toilets. Clean structures and buildings are basic needs. More students will be attracted to take up college if our SUCs have the facilities needed and we have competent teachers," she added. Meanwhile, Legarda asked CHED and the Mindanao State University (MSU) in Marawi to develop a program for cultural mapping of the intangible and tangible heritage--memories and materials left amid the war in the city. "It is saddening that the war in Marawi has affected Bangsamoro heritage, with precious artifacts and heirlooms in affected homes and heritage structures destroyed. We need immediate intervention so that the next generations would not be deprived of knowledge about this rich heritage. The process itself and the output of the cultural mapping can help in the psychological healing of the affected populace and in strengthening our cultural bond," she said. The Senator also asked SUCs to converge with other agencies of government to provide assistance for research and development to agencies that need such and, vice versa, to access programs of agencies that SUCs need. For instance, all local government units (LGUs) must have their local climate change action plans (LCCAPs) as mandated under the Climate Change Law. To date, only around 30% of LGUs have complied with the said requirement. "This is where the role of our SUCs becomes crucial. We need to fast track the creation of LCCAPs of all cities, municipalities, and provinces in the country. I ask the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute (UPRI) and all SUCs to help the Climate Change Commission (CCC) in assisting LGUs to formulate their LCCAPs, which can be the tools to access grant-based funding from the People's Survival Fund, and even from international climate funds," Legarda explained. She also requested the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to collaborate with SUCs for equipment needed for livelihood programs through the Shared Service Facilities (SSF) of the DTI, like the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (DMMMSU) in La Union that does silk processing and weaving; the Mariano Memorial State University (MMSU) in Ilocos Norte for their biofuels project; and the Southern Luzon State University's (SLSU) nipa palm sugar processing center. "Our SUCs are valuable institutions in providing quality tertiary education and in building capacities of communities, especially through research and development. This is why we are providing our SUCs the funds necessary for them to undertake their crucial role in our society," Legarda concluded.
Press Release
September 24, 2017 SENATE MINORITY BLOC URGES SENATE TO LET DE LIMA JOIN SESSION The Senate minority bloc has urged the Senate leadership to urgently appeal to the court to allow Sen. Leila M. De Lima to attend to her legislative duties, including participation in the deliberations of crucial legislations, pending the resolution of the charges levelled against her. In a Senate Resolution 505, opposition Senators Franklin Drilon (Liberal, Senate Minority Leader), Bam Aquino (Liberal), Risa Hontiveros (Akbayan), Francis Pangilinan (Partido Liberal president), and Antonio Trillanes IV (Magdalo) maintained that De Lima is not a "flight risk" because she has willingly and voluntarily surrendered herself to proper authorities when warrant for her arrest was served more than six months ago. "In the exercise of the Senate's constitutional mandate to serve the people, it is in the best interest of the institution to allow Senator De Lima to continue her legislative duties pending the trial of her cases," the resolution said. De Lima, considered by many as the first political prisoner under the Duterte administration, has been slapped by the government with three charges of illegal drug trade based on false evidence and fabricated testimonies by convicted criminals. Although she could not actively participate in plenary deliberations on important measures, she has continued to file bills and resolutions despite being detained at the Philippine National Police-Custodial Center, in Camp Crame, Quezon City. To date, De Lima has filed 55 bills and 55 resolutions in the Senate. As a political prisoner, the Senator from Bicol has invoked her rights as provided and protected under Philippine laws and jurisprudence as well as the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights. The minority bloc in the Senate also explained that the Upper Chamber could very well take De Lima's custody and guarantee that she would be present whenever her presence may be required by the court or any other proper authorities at any given time. "By allowing Senator De Lima to continue performing her duties as a Senator of the Republic of the Philippines, we are heeding to the call of the overwhelming mandate of the electorate who wants Senator De Lima to represent them," they said. In the past, they noted, there have been cases such as those when then Senators Justiniano Montano and Juan Ponce Enrile were allowed to post bail and perform their senatorial duties despite criminal cases against them. In the 1950s, then Senator Montano was charged with multiple murders, a non-bailable offense, but was allowed to post bail and perform his senatorial duties. Enrile was also allowed to post bail in the plunder cases against him and served the remaining years of his term which expired in June 2016. "The experience of a detained legislator being allowed to continue performing his/her duties is not new in Philippine politics," they said.
By PTI: riverine islands
Photo: PTI9_24_2017_000089B
By Aarushi Thapliyal
Old Batuli (Assam), Sep 24 (PTI) No motorable roads, no electricity and two hours away by boat... But health workers say these are not the most difficult challenges they face while carrying out the immunisation drive in Old Batuli, surrounded by the swirling waters of the Brahmaputra.
The more arduous task is battling illiteracy, the stigma surrounding vaccination and the apathy of villagers.
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A dedicated team of health workers toils tirelessly to make 100 per cent immunisation on the riverine islands, known as saporis or chars locally, a reality.
For Rijumani Deka, for instance, an auxilliary nurse and midwife, the day begins at dawn in Sonitpur district?s Tezpur town. She collects two cold boxes containing vaccinations for 14 diseases such as diptheria, tuberculosis, tetanus and, hepatitis B from the primary health centre and reaches Jahazpur Ghat.
At 9 am sharp, the team leaves for one of the 28 islands in the district in a boat, dubbed the boat clinic.
Two hours later, they move to a smaller boat when they reach the shallow waters. Once on shore, they stack the medicines, cold boxes, tables, chairs and other paraphernalia on two bicycles and proceed towards the village school where their camp is held.
A gaggle of excited children surrounds them, but mothers, some with babies in their laps, shy away.
"People are still a little resistant to immunisation. The mothers, due to unfamiliarity with injections, feel their child is in a lot of pain from the vaccine. The bleeding afterwards also scares them," said Deka.
They vaccinate over 200 children every month in the district but the drive comes with its own set of challenges, she said.
"We try to ease their fears but there is a shortage of time so the best we can do is tell them about the vaccine being administered, the disease it is being given for and how it protects their children from diseases," she added.
According to Mousumi Duora, Sonitpur District Programme Officer, Boat Clinic, the biggest obstacle the medical teams face is the high number of child births at home.
"About 75-80 per cent of children are born at home as the mothers are unable to reach hospitals on time. Thus, vaccines like oral polio vaccine and BCG (for tuberculosis) which need to be administered within half an hour of birth cannot be provided," she said.
The migratory nature of the population on the saporis, where about 15,000 people live, is another challenge. The villagers, mostly Muslims, who are dependent on agriculture and fishing, leave the island and shift to either the mainland or to another island every year.
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The health team maintains a record of each child; if they are found on another island, their address is updated. The records inform them about the vaccines administered. Sometimes, the families return to the same village where they lived earlier, Duora said.
Immunisation rates are rising in the villages, but there is still some resistance, said community worker Mofiddul Islam.
Besides the stigma, there is also the belief that one vaccine does not make a difference. The life of the child is left to fate in many cases.
"The villagers say that theyve heard of people dying due to vaccination in other villages. They also are wary of the fever that children get after vaccination, as it means the mother will have to sit at home with the kid and lose out on a days work in the fields," Islam said.
He makes repeated visits to their homes, cajoling and patiently making them understand the benefits of vaccinating their child.
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Murtiza Khatun from Old Batuli village, a mother of three, was one of those reluctant mothers.
Now an ASHA (accredited social health activist), Murtiza said she was against vaccination due to the rumours surrounding it and also because it would have meant missing out on work if her baby got fever.
However, she was convinced to change her mind and now helps health workers dispel misgivings and encourage parents to get their children immunised.
The work of Murtiza Khatun and the health workers seems to be bearing fruit. The wall of resistance is slowly whittling away, said Duora, who had helped set up the Sonitpur boat clinic in 2009.
At a recent boat clinic here, Manuawar Khatun was amongst those who came with her grandson.
She could not get her five children vaccinated due to lack of facilities earlier, she said, but is now insistent that her grandson gets his shots.
The health team visits every village in the district once in 30-40 days and the boat clinic functions for 18 days every month.
The boat clinics -- a unique initiative in public private partnership mode by the Assam government to reach those living in the remote islands the 13 districts of the state function -- even during the annual floods.
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Overcoming parental resistance is not the only hurdle.
Duora said fewer children turn up for immunisation during floods.
For a couple of months in a year, medical teams have to make do without doctors, as doctors deployed for compulsory rural training resign to appear for their masters.
According to National Family Health Survey 4, 2015-16, full immunisation coverage is at 47 per cent in the state. In Sonitpur, it is even lower with health workers estimating that immunisation covers only 20-30 per cent of the people. PTI AAR MIN BSA
--- ENDS ---
The woman whose picture Pakistan's Representative to the United Nations showed the General Assembly earlier today was NOT of a victim of pellet gun fire in Kashmir. Read on to find out more about Pakistan's lie.
By Geeta Mohan, Ganesh Radha-Udayakumar: When Home Minister Rajnath Singh said his Cabinet colleague Sushma Swaraj had exposed Pakistan's "duplicity" on terrorism in her speech at the UN General Assembly, he had no way of knowing Islamabad would provide a textbook example of deceitfulness in less than 24 hours - in truly spectacular fashion.
Earlier today, Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan's Representative to the UN, dramatically raised aloft a picture of a woman at the General Assembly. Her face, riddled with wounds, was the face of India, Lodhi said.
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It was a resounding lie.
The woman was not a Kashmiri. She was not a victim of pellet fire. She was 17-year-old Rawya abu Jom'a, a Palestinian woman who was injured in air strikes in Gaza, according to a report in the Guardian.
That happened In 2014 - two years before unrest broke out in Kashmir after Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter by security forces.
At that time, injuries and cases of partial or complete blindness caused by pellet gun use did attract strong criticism (and the Home Ministry even asked security forces to use plastic bullets instead), but the woman in the picture Lodhi used was not one of the victims.
Take a look at this screenshot of the Guardian report. The photograph was taken by Heidi Levine.
A screenshot from the Guardian's website
And here's a tweet which shows Lodhi holding up the picture.
In her reply to Indian FM's speech in UNGA, Amb. Lodhi showed a pic of pellet gun injured women frm Kashmir saying this is the face of India pic.twitter.com/StuG3arPoN- Pakistan Mission UN (@PakistanUN_NY) September 24, 2017
What's incredible is that Maheela Lodhi is a former journalist, and should know the basics of fact-checking. The website of Pakistan's Mission to the UN says she was "the founding editor of Pakistans leading English daily, The News," and "the first woman in all of Asia to become the editor of a national daily newspaper. "
At least two Pakistani websites participated in this failure of journalistic ethics.
Pakistan Defence, a website which claims to be that nation's "largest digital forum" and purports to disseminate news, retweeted the Pakistani UN Mission's message without bothering to do a fact-check. See for yourself.
Screenshot of Pakistan Defence's (@defencepk) Twitter page taken on September 24
Geo News, a TV channel, also failed to verify the information.
Screenshot of page on www.geo.tv, taken on September 24
Maleeha Lodhi said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had spread a "litany of falsehoods" in her blistering take-down of Islamabad on Saturday.
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In her reply, Lodhi said the Narendra Modi government had a "racist and facsist" ideology, and called Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath a "fanatic."
To top it all, Pakistan now wants the UN to declare India a 'state sponsor of terrorism.'
VIDEO: Here's what EAM Swaraj told the UN General Assembly about Pakistan and terrorism. Read the full text here.
--- ENDS ---
Sam Goody, a regular at political protests, stood behind a folding table loaded with T-shirts and buttons for sale Sunday as hundreds gathered at UC Berkeley for what would turn out to be a much-hyped but brief appearance by right-wing showman Milo Yiannopoulos.
One of Goodys screen-printed tops read Black Lives Matter, the letters formed out of the names of men and women who were killed in police-involved shootings. Another shirt decried President Trump in unprintable messages.
Goody, a Bay Area resident, makes it a point to counter Trump supporters every time they show up in Berkeley to rally, something they have done several times this year. Sundays event was largely peaceful, but pro- and anti-Trump factions have clashed at other demonstrations.
Im dedicated to my cause and giving people the means to express themselves in a nonconfrontational way, Goody said. The rallies are calm and peaceful in the beginning. Then it turns. They have gotten more radical and intense over time. I usually pack up and leave at that point. I dont want to be in the center.
Goodys proceeds somewhere in the $5,000 range this year, he said go to the Oakland chapter of Black Lives Matter.
One of those on the other side Sunday was Ashlee Soltero, 21, who was wearing a red Make America Great Again cap. She drove from Southern California with friends to share a perspective she feels is too often suppressed in the Bay Area.
The criminal justice student at California State University Long Beach said she needed to stand up to what she sees as leftists intimidation.
These people are here to oppose fascism, and yet theyre trying to silence someones free-speech rights, she said.
She was also lured by the star power of Yiannopoulos, a former Breitbart News editor embraced by many on the far right.
Its always cool seeing celebrities in person, Soltero said. Were definitely making history here.
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Tyler DeChance, 22, wearing a Trump-Pence Make America Great Again shirt, said he was there simply to engage like-minded people. The Berkeley City College student, who was far outnumbered by people who dont share his politics, said he was surprised to see so much hostility to his beliefs.
Its crazy its gotten this hyped up over a Republican speaker, he said. People should be able to speak regardless of their views.
Many protesters maintained that free speech goes too far when it becomes hateful, adding that is what Yiannopoulos offers.
Shauna Keddy, a 27-year-old elementary school teacher who lives in Berkeley, showed up Sunday in rainbow-colored clothes. She said she missed the Feb. 1 planned appearance by Yiannopoulos at UC Berkeley, which devolved into a melee when anarchist counterprotesters swarmed into Sproul Plaza. But she made it a point to attend this event.
Not everyone is committing violence, Keddy said. Its important to show that.
The killing of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier in July 2015 shook the law enforcement community when investigators traced the pistol that took her life to a federal ranger. Four days earlier, he had returned to his parked car in the citys downtown to find a window smashed and the weapon gone.
Over the next seven months, at least seven other guns were snatched from law enforcement officers vehicles in the Bay Area, and the rash prompted some chiefs and sheriffs to tighten policies on how officers secure guns, whether off-duty or on.
State legislators sought to punish cops who leave firearms vulnerable to car burglars. San Francisco supervisors took up the issue, as did Marin Countys civil grand jury.
But two years later, after criminals allegedly stole a gun from the personal car of a San Francisco officer and used it to kill a young man in the Mission District, critics say the push for changes fell short. The thefts keep happening, with devastating consequences. And though police have made some reforms, the efforts have been uneven.
Some departments bought officers lockboxes that can be fastened to the interior of their vehicles, providing stronger security, but many others have not.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors considered making it a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail for off-duty officers to leave a gun unsecured in a car. But they ultimately voted to exempt San Francisco officers and deputies and apply the measure to everyone else, as long as the police and sheriffs departments enforced internal policies.
The civil grand jury in Marin County, in a report released in May 2016, said just one police agency there had toughened policies on gun storage in vehicles since Steinles death on Pier 14, and that most agencies did not use lockboxes.
The Grand Jury believes that the best policy is for law enforcement never to leave a firearm in a vehicle, the report said. Short of that, lockboxes should be installed in every department vehicle and policies should state specifically how firearms are to be secured.
The problem persists as vehicle break-ins rise in some Bay Area cities. Victims reported 17,970 car burglaries in San Francisco through the end of July, or about 85 a day, up 28 percent from the same period in 2016.
Still, information about the theft of police guns is scarce: Local, state and federal authorities do not publish figures on how often it happens, and police agencies do not typically reveal whether or how they punish employees who lose guns in violation of internal policies, because of California laws that keep officer discipline private.
Law enforcement critics say police now more than ever should know better than to leave guns unsecured in vehicles and must be held to a higher standard.
You know what is out there, and you know what is happening every day, said attorney Frank Pitre, who is representing Steinles family in a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management. He also represents the family of Antonio Ramos, who was shot in September 2015 while painting a mural in Oakland by an attacker who used a gun stolen from the rented car of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
Criminals are just looking for opportunities, Pitre said, and youre giving them a gold mine when you allow them to steal a weapon they wouldnt have otherwise.
Some police officers and advocates, though, say theres no simple solution to stopping the thefts. They say officers obliged to carry guns are victims of the same scourge of home and car burglaries as civilian gun owners. According to federal gun regulators, 1.4 million firearms were reported stolen in the six-year period from 2005 to 2010.
The bigger problem is how do we address this rampant crime problem? said attorney Alison Berry Wilkinson, who represents Bay Area law enforcement officers. Everything from cell phones to water bottles to guns, any item left in a car is subject to being stolen right now. The reality is police officers are no less vulnerable to that than any other segment of the population.
She said that even in cases where officers put guns in lockboxes that are welded to vehicles, People can rip out entire pieces of equipment from a car. I know officers who have gone to great lengths to make sure they have secured their weapon, and still, criminals with blowtorches and crowbars are able to remove it from the vehicle.
Santa Clara County Sheriffs Sgt. Richard Glennon noted that officers who travel with guns cant take them in places where they are prohibited, such as post offices, or sporting events where a police presence is needed but guns are not.
For this reason, his boss, Sheriff Laurie Smith, purchased 750 special gun safes for her deputies personal vehicles last year.
We havent had any weapons taken since then, Glennon said.
Complicating the problem, some police officials said, is that thieves sometimes target officers, knowing they carry valuable weapons.
Sgt. Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriffs Office said he had heard of cases in which crooks followed officers and other people home from gun ranges and then burglarized their homes. In 2013, thieves in Richmond poisoned two dogs at the home of a city K-9 officer before stealing two handguns and three long guns.
But in the mind of state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, the officers unique position only heightens their responsibility. And in some cases, he said, the irresponsible behavior is clear.
A carpenter has a tool belt that carries his tools all day and he doesnt think much about it when he tosses it in his car, but theres a major difference between a gun and a hammer, Hill said. It becomes a custom that they follow, but they need to wake up to the fact these are dangerous weapons, especially in the wrong hands, and when they are stolen, they invariably wind up in the wrong hands.
After the Pier 14 killing, the senator wrote a law that, as of Jan. 1, requires that officers who arent carrying out official duties secure a gun in a vehicles locked trunk or in a locked container out of view. A violation is an infraction punishable by a fine up to $1,000. The law considered in San Francisco would have been tougher, if the police and sheriffs departments had not been exempted.
Those agencies did enact internal policies, though they differ slightly from each other.
The sheriffs policy requires deputies who must leave a gun in an unattended car to stow it in a lockbox fastened to any part of the interior, as long as its out of view. The police forces policy mandates that officers secure a gun in a vehicles locked trunk for a short period of time at most, and never overnight. If the vehicle lacks a trunk, the gun must be in a lockbox affixed to the interior, out of view.
Its not clear whether Hills state law could apply to the recent San Francisco case, in which officials said a silver revolver and ammunition were stolen from a car that belonged to city Officer Marvin Cabuntala. Three days later, on Aug. 15, the gun was used in the killing of 23-year-old Abel Enrique Esquivel Jr. Three young men have been charged with murder.
Police officials would not elaborate on the circumstances of the theft, but said internal affairs is looking into the officers actions and could discipline him if he violated department rules. Cabuntala did not know his vehicle had been broken into until after the shooting, the police union said, suggesting that he did not follow the restriction on stowing a gun overnight.
The gun thefts that have plagued Bay Area officers in recent years have been spread among a number of agencies. In January, an FBI agent reported that a thief had stolen a submachine gun out of his parked car in Contra Costa County. The agency would not say how it had been secured.
Last weekend, it happened again: A newly hired San Francisco sheriffs deputy left his service pistol unsecured in a parked rental car in the city in violation of department policy, officials said, allowing a thief to break in and take it. The deputy, who was still on probation, was fired.
Pitre, the Steinle family attorney, said that as laws and policies change to force responsible gun ownership, agencies must hold officers accountable when they fail to do their part.
Until you really have a significant consequence such as termination of employment or suspension for a significant period of time, he said, only then are you going to get people who are going to think twice about leaving a gun unattended in a vehicle.
Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo
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An hours-long standoff in San Francisco came to a deadly end Sunday morning for a man holding two children and his wife hostage, when police burst through the door of his apartment and opened fire, authorities said.
The wife and two children, ages 5 and 11, were unharmed in the overnight confrontation on Russian Hill. Officials did not identify the husband, describing him only as a man in his 30s.
Investigators trying to determine what led to the shooting picked through a pile of debris outside the apartment building that included childrens toys and spent police rounds. Authorities did not say whether they had found a gun or any other weapon inside the apartment, although police reported hearing what they believed were shots during the standoff.
Officers responded to the building on Salmon Street, a short alley off Pacific Avenue, around 11:35 p.m. Saturday to check on a report of a domestic disturbance involving a man with a possible weapon, said Sgt. Michael Andraychak, a police spokesman.
Upon arrival, officers heard yelling coming from inside the apartment and within minutes they heard a shot from inside the apartment, Andraychak said. At that point, officers called in hostage negotiators and tactical officers.
Negotiators spoke to the man for several hours, but around 2:50 a.m. he stopped responding, Andraychak said. Moments later, police heard what they believed to be another gunshot from inside the apartment and, fearing for the safety of the hostages, sent in the tactical team, Andraycak said.
Once inside, officers encountered the man and shot him, police said. He was pronounced dead at San Francisco General Hospital.
The wife and children were treated at the scene and released. They were not shot or seriously injured, Andraychak said.
Neighbors on Salmon Street reported hearing the commotion throughout the night, including an explosion from a stun grenade.
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A woman who asked to be identified only by her first name, Cindy, said her mother lives across from where the shooting happened at the back of the dead-end alley. She said the children sometimes played in the street, but that her interactions with the man never amounted to more than a friendly wave.
Its shocking that something like this could happen in the neighborhood, she said. The neighbors all know each other, but that family pretty much just kept to themselves.
Police homicide and internal affairs inspectors are investigating the shooting, as are the district attorneys and chief medical examiners offices.
Police officials will hold a town hall meeting in the neighborhood within the next 10 days, which is department protocol.
Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
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There are few festivals in the United States where you can view the Academy Award winners of tomorrow, take in local documentaries, see the best of Cannes, learn about the craft of moviemaking, listen to live music and gaze at a few celebrities all while enjoying a mellow vibe.
That is the Mill Valley Film Festival, and if you act in a timely manner, all these events are reasonably accessible. For Bay Area cinephiles or even casual moviegoers of any age this event is a gold mine.
Here is a sneak preview of the festival, and some tidbits from its illustrious 40-year history:
And the Oscar goes to
OK, we admit it: Glitz is fun to talk about, and no Mill Valley festival tour would be complete without an Oscar preview. Thats because nine of the past 11 best-picture Oscar winners have screened at the Mill Valley Film Festival, including last years winner, Moonlight, and presumed runner-up, La La Land.
This year, there are probably at least a dozen films in the festival lineup worthy of Academy Award consideration of some kind. But handicapping an Oscar race is a dicey proposition, so keep this in mind as we list only a sampling of the contenders:
Call Me by Your Name: This sensitive, nuanced drama, about the relationship between a doctoral student and his employers 17-year-old son, will almost assuredly get an adapted screenplay nomination. Armie Hammer, Timothee Chalamet and Michael Stuhlbarg all stand solid chances of getting acting nods. The film has wowed critics (including this one) all over the world, and a best-picture nomination is within reach, even if the subject matter will be tricky for some.
9 p.m. Oct. 12, CineArts at Sequoia; 3 p.m. Oct. 14, Century Larkspur 2.
Darkest Hour: Americans love their British dramas, and this one has a pedigree that academy voters will love. Gary Oldman, who plays Winston Churchill in his most turbulent hours, is considered a front-runner for best actor. Expect this to be in the best picture field.
7 p.m. Oct. 5, CineArts at Sequoia.
Lady Bird: This highly lauded film, about a disaffected Northern California girl trying to escape her family, could get Greta Gerwig in the best-director circle and land a best picture nod. Saoirse Ronan appears to be a strong candidate for best actress, a category that appears to be loaded this year.
5 p.m. Oct. 15, Smith Rafael Film Center.
Last Flag Flying: Richard Linklater visits the festival this year with his latest, about three vets who go on a road trip. And talk about pedigree: The film is based on a sequel to the novel The Last Detail, a beloved movie of its own. This project is bound to be on the Oscar radar, particularly Bryan Cranston as best actor. But dont count out Steve Carell and Laurence Fishburne, either.
7 p.m. Oct. 12, Smith Rafael Film Center.
Mudbound: Dee Rees film about racism on a Mississippi farm during the Jim Crow era is timely and has the hallmarks of a great story. Its bound to garner some kind of Oscar recognition, certainly for adapted screenplay and perhaps even in the best-picture and best-director categories.
6:30 p.m. Oct. 7, CineArts at Sequoia.
Special guests
The festival will honor these giants (in person, of course) with a tribute or spotlight event:
Sean Penn: One of the best actors in movie history. 3 p.m. Oct. 7, Smith Rafael Film Center.
Holly Hunter: Another one of the all-time movie greats. 7 p.m. Oct. 8, Smith Rafael Flm Center.
Kristin Scott Thomas: She has dazzled screens for decades and continues to do so in Darkest Hour. 6:30 p.m. Oct. 6, Smith Rafael Film Center.
Todd Haynes: A highly respected trailblazer of a director, Haynes will be featured in an onstage conversation, along with a screening of Wonderstruck. 7 p.m. Oct. 13, Smith Rafael Film Center.
Andrew Garfield: The 34-year-old actor, who will be on hand during the screening of Breathe, should have a long, distinguished career ahead of him. 7 p.m. Oct. 14, Smith Rafael Film Center.
Greta Gerwig: The Sacramento native is making her hometown proud, especially with Lady Bird. 5 p.m. Oct. 15, Smith Rafael.
Dee Rees: The Mudbound director is fast becoming an important voice in U.S. cinema. 6:30 p.m. Oct. 7, Sequoia.
5 reasons to honor
Sean Penn
Here are five of many reasons (i.e. movies) that Sean Penn is being honored at MVFF:
Mystic River: His moments as a grief-stricken parent are electrifying.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A surfer-dude performance that defined an era and made him famous.
Milk: He somehow channeled slain gay-rights icon Harvey Milk.
Dead Man Walking: Played an inmate who made your skin crawl and broke your heart.
Sweet and Lowdown: Lowdown is right, but he was hilarious and somehow garnered our sympathy.
5 reasons to honor
Holly Hunter
Here are five of many reasons (i.e. movies) that Holly Hunter is being honored at MVFF:
Broadcast News: Her complex career woman was a groundbreaking role.
The Piano: Won an Oscar, and deservedly so, without uttering a word.
Thirteen: Shes never shied away from risky material.
The Firm: One of many examples where she steals a film.
The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleading-Murdering Mom: A master class in satire.
Best bets
Mill Valley is not just about red-carpet galas and Academy Award contenders. The festival is a serious showcase for high-quality foreign and American narratives and documentaries from all over the world. Here is just a sampling:
The Desert Bride: In this lovely Argentine character study, a timid, middle-aged divorcee begins to come out of her shell after an unexpected entanglement in the countryside. 3:45 p.m. Oct. 7, CineArts at Sequoia; 6:30 p.m. Oct. 9, Smith Rafael Film Center.
The Deep Sky: This thought-provoking, sexy film concerns a couple whose views of love and sexuality change when they open up their relationship to a mysterious stranger. Its directed by Oakland resident Frazer Bradshaw and features a star turn by Luise Helm. 9:15 p.m. Oct. 7, CineArts at Sequoia; 8:45 p.m., Oct. 9 Lark Theater.
The Light of the Moon: This moving psychological drama concerns the insidious effects of sexual assault, as a young architect finds herself struggling to relate to those who love her. 8:45 p.m. Oct. 9, Smith Rafael Film Center; 6 p.m. Oct. 11, Century Larkspur 3.
The Long Shadow: Berkeley director Frances Causey digs deep into the roots of slavery and racism in this informative, powerful documentary. 6 p.m. Oct. 7 and 10 a.m. Oct. 10, Lark Theater; 11:15 a.m. Oct. 11, Smith Rafael Film Center.
On the Sly: In Search of the Family Stone: This fun documentary explores one mans quest to find the elusive Sly Stone. Along the way, we find out plenty about the legendary artist. 6 p.m. Oct. 13, CineArts at Sequoia; 9 p.m. Oct. 14, Century Larkspur 2.
A brief history
Here are some of the landmark moments from the Mill Valley Film Festival over the past 40 years:
1978: The festival opens for the first time and soon shows its cutting-edge ways by introducing video programming, marking the start of the digital cinema revolution.
1984: To avoid competing with Hollywoods summer blockbusters, the festival moves to September, then three years later to October. The switch puts the festival in an ideal spot to become a harbinger for the film awards season.
1980s: The festival works with increasingly influential distributors such as Miramax and Fine Line, and becomes a national player on the festival circuit. Celebrities abound at the festival, including French icon Jeanne Moreau, who takes a limo to go shopping at Cost Plus, and Jon Voight, who brings along daughter Angelina Jolie.
2006: The festival keeps growing in influence. Special guests Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) and Helen Mirren (The Queen) go on to win the leading acting Oscars for that year. It starts to become a pattern.
2017: Continuing its cutting-edge roots, the festival unveils a lineup in which women have directed 44 percent of the films. The breakthrough is part of the festivals Mind the Gap initiative, designed to pare down the gender gap in the film industry.
The festival, by the numbers
99
feature films
46
international feature films
17
U.S. feature films
22
documentaries
76
short films
9
world premieres
50
countries represented
David Lewis is a Bay Area freelance writer.
Katherine Bonniwell, a former publisher of Life magazine who was widely considered a role model for female magazine managers, died Aug. 31 at her home in Manhattan. She was 70.
The cause was lung cancer, her husband, William Leibovitz, said.
Ms. Bonniwell was an early glass ceiling breaker who led a groundswell of very talented women into top positions at Time Inc., Lifes parent company, said Chris Meigher, who was president of the organization during her time there.
She was strong and stalwart and could stand toe to toe with anybody, Meigher said.
Life, best known for its photo essays, was published weekly until 1972 and then monthly from 1978 to 2000. It now exists as a depository of 20 million photos and images on the Time website.
Ms. Bonniwell was publisher from 1988 to 1991, a period marked by high magazine readership but also by advertising downturns and shifts in consumer interest. During her tenure, the magazine increased its circulation to 1.4 million from 1.2 million and won two National Magazine Awards.
Ms. Bonniwell, known for her innovative solutions to complicated problems, was the second woman to serve as publisher of Life; the first was her immediate predecessor, Lisa Valk. She also served as worldwide director of circulation at Time Inc. and business manager for People magazine.
Leibovitz recalled that once, seeing that Time Inc.s Money magazine was performing poorly, Ms. Bonniwell proposed a new content strategy. Instead of publishing a mix of miscellaneous articles, she suggested that each issue of the magazine focus on a different theme. Her suggestion was adopted, and readership soared.
Ms. Bonniwells efforts to put Life back on a weekly publication schedule for the first time in a decade were driven by amazing intellectual and political brilliance on her part, said Jim Gaines, who was managing editor of the magazine at the time and later succeeded Ms. Bonniwell as publisher.
She made a compelling business case for producing more issues and probably would have succeeded, Gaines said, if not for external market pressures and concerns that a weekly Life could cannibalize readership from other Time publications.
Katherine Marbury Bonniwell was born in Manhattan on May 29, 1947, to Lucy and John Bonniwell. Her family was descended from British colonists who arrived in North America in 1670. Her middle name was a tribute to her ancestor William Marbury, of the landmark Marbury vs. Madison Supreme Court decision, which helped establish the doctrine of judicial review.
Ms. Bonniwell earned a bachelors degree in 1969 from Vassar College, where she studied art. She briefly worked at Sothebys auction house before returning to school for a masters from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1976.
Besides her husband, she is survived by her son, Alexander; a sister, Anne Gale; a brother, Charles Bonniwell; and a stepdaughter, Lynn Leibovitz.
Tiffany Hsu is a New York Times writer.
WASHINGTON - The Republican senators at the forefront of the latest effort to undo the Affordable Care Act plan to release a revised version of their bill Monday sending more health-care dollars to the states of key holdouts, as hardening resistance from several GOP senators left their proposal on the verge of collapse.
According to a summary obtained by The Washington Post, Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., will propose giving Alaska and Maine get more funding than initially offered. Those states are represented by Republican senators Lisa Murkowski, Alaska, and Susan Collins, Maine, who have expressed concerns about the bill but have yet to say how they would vote.
The Cassidy-Graham legislation would overhaul the ACA by lumping together the current law's spending on insurance subsidies and expanded Medicaid and redistributing it to states in the form of block grants. Alaska would get 3 percent more funding between 2020 and 2026 than under current law, and Maine would get 43 percent more funding during that time period, according to a summary obtained by The Post.
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The plan was distributed among Republicans late Sunday, with party leaders just one "no" vote away from defeat and as Republican senators from across the political spectrum were distancing themselves from the prior draft.
ALSO GOP scrambles to save health bill
Aides to Murkowski and Collins did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Sunday. Republicans close to the process have long counted Collins as an eventual "no," with some predicting that little could be done to the bill to change her mind.
The fresh discord over a signature Republican promise added turbulence to the start of a critical week for President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. In addition to health care, both are watching Tuesday's special-election primary runoff in Alabama, a high-stakes intraparty fight between establishment Republicans and conservatives that could set the tone for the midterm elections next year. GOP leaders also are expected to unveil their most detailed blueprint yet of tax cuts they hope to pass by the end of the year.
"Eventually we'll win, whether it's now or later," Trump said of the health-care effort Sunday as he prepared to board Air Force One to return to Washington after spending the weekend at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Collins, a moderate Republican who has opposed previous efforts that cut Medicaid and eased coverage requirements, said in a TV interview earlier Sunday that it was "very difficult" to envision herself voting for the health-care bill.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a conservative who has advocated a more far-reaching repeal of the ACA, commonly called Obamacare, said he and at least one other conservative colleague do not back the measure "right now."
And Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has stated definitively that he opposes the current measure, showed no signs of backing down without dramatic changes to the bill's core approach that probably would come at the cost of other Republican votes.
Graham and Cassidy pledged to keep trying to pass their bill - but the White House and McConnell gave differing accounts of the path ahead. White House legislative affairs director Marc Short predicted a Wednesday vote, while a McConnell spokesman declined to publicly embrace that timeline.
Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," Collins cited concerns about how the Cassidy-Graham legislation would affect Medicaid recipients and people with preexisting medical conditions, among other things.
"It is very difficult for me to envision a scenario where I would end up voting for this bill," Collins said. "I have a number of serious reservations about it."
Collins voted against a repeal bill in July, and she is a key vote in the current dynamic. She said she chatted at length with Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday, but it wasn't enough to sway her. She said she wants to see the limited analysis due out this week from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office before making a final decision.
Two Republican senators - Paul and John McCai, Ariz. - have already said they will vote against Cassidy-Graham. A third would be enough to defeat the bill, since no Democrats are expected to support it. Republicans hold a 52-48 advantage in the Senate and can lose only two votes from their own party and still pass legislation with the help of a tiebreaking vote from Pence.
Trump said Sunday that the senators opposed to or leaning against voting for the bill, including McCain and Collins, would benefit from the block grants included in the proposal.
"Every state you're talking about, it happens to be particularly good for," Trump said.
The bill has been roundly rejected by influential national groups representing physicians, hospitals and insurers. Over the weekend, six such organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association, issued a joint statement urging the Senate to reject the measure.
While the CBO plans to release a "preliminary assessment" early this week, officials there have said they will not be able to provide estimates of how Cassidy-Graham would affect insurance premiums or the number of people with coverage "for at least several weeks." Trump and McConnell are trying to bring the bill to a vote by the end of this week to take advantage of a procedural rule allowing the plan to pass with just 51 votes.
It remained far from clear Sunday that they could get even close to that number.
Addressing Cassidy-Graham at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Cruz said: "Right now, they don't have my vote. And I don't think they have Mike Lee's either," referring to one of Utah's senators.
Cruz said that he and Lee met with Graham and Cassidy last week to propose changes to the measure that would get them to yes. Their changes were not included in the latest draft.
Conn Carroll, a Lee spokesman, said Sunday: "We want some technical changes. We are working with Cassidy, but we haven't committed to anything yet."
Graham and Cassidy appeared on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," where they defended their plan and vowed to keep up their efforts to shepherd it to passage.
"We're moving forward. And we'll see what happens next week. I'm very excited about it," Graham said.
The South Carolina Republican mentioned Collins and Paul as he made his pitch. "Rand Paul objects to the taxes," he said. "But when you look at the bill, Rand, we save a lot of money over time for Medicaid. We put a cap on Obamacare growth."
Paul said in a Sunday interview that he broadly opposes a keystone of the Cassidy-Graham plan: turning funding for the ACA into block grants for states.
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"The problem I have with block grants is that looks like I've affirmatively said I'm okay with 90 percent of Obamacare as long as we reshuffle it and give it to Republican states," he said. "That's a horrible message."
Paul said he is willing to listen to suggestions about how that element of the bill could be constricted. "Would I talk to them if they said they wanted to make the block grants half as much? I might," he said.
Paul presents another challenge as well: Winning him over would probably alienate Republican senators who oppose a more aggressive repeal. That left GOP leaders no better off in their quest to secure enough Republican votes to pass Cassidy-Graham.
The proposal, which would also dramatically cut Medicaid spending over time, has drawn concerns from Republicans from states that have expanded Medicaid under the ACA. In an interview on CBS' "Face The Nation," Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., whose state expanded Medicaid, said he needs more information before he will take a position.
"I think the CBO will have a role to play in this," Gardner said. "I believe there's information that will be coming through a committee hearing on Monday and additional text changes that will add additional information."
McConnell is also keeping a close eye this week on the Senate race in Alabama, where Republican Sen. Luther Strange is trying to get past insurgent primary challenger Roy Moore, a controversial but popular former judge. Trump and McConnell both back Strange, but supporters and associates of Trump, including former chief White House strategist Stephen Bannon and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, have praised Moore.
A Moore victory would be a blow to both McConnell and Trump, who have put their powerful political operations behind Strange. Some Republicans also say that outcome would embolden conservative insurgents to challenge other Republican senators in 2018.
Also this week, the "Big Six" negotiators from the White House, the Senate and the House are expected to unveil more details of their tax overhaul plan, which, like the health-care talks, could spark messy disagreements among Republicans.
Some of the elements of the plan have already started to take shape. Republicans are targeting a corporate rate of 20 percent in their overhaul, according to three people familiar with the emerging blueprint - a number that represents a substantial cut from the current 35 percent rate but falls short of the 15 percent Trump has advocated.
But for Senate Republicans, the first order of business this week is resolving the health-care push, one way or the other. Even the bill's champions have started pondering the prospect of failure.
Asked on "This Week" what he will tell people if he comes up short, Graham responded: "That I did everything I could to get money and power out of Washington to give you better health care closer to where you live, and I'm not going to stop fighting."
He also held up the possibility of using health care as a negotiating tactic in future legislative talks.
"I'm on the Budget Committee," Graham said, adding, "we're not going to vote for a budget resolution that doesn't allow the health-care debate to continue."
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The Washington Post's Robert Costa and Carol Morello contributed to this report.
SACRAMENTO Something was different this year.
As lawmakers in Sacramento approached the last night of their session the final opportunity to pass or kill bills for the year they had three days to figure out how to vote. Three days may not sound like much, given the magnitude of the decisions involved in shaping policy for 39 million Californians. But its three more days than lawmakers used to have to make up their minds on some measures.
A law voters imposed last year forbids legislators to act on a bill until its been available to the public for 72 hours. While most bills are published online for several weeks or months, every year lawmakers write some new ones at the last minute, leaving almost no time for the public or even their colleagues in the Legislature to scrutinize the proposals.
The new routine was met with mixed reviews as lawmakers pounded through hundreds of proposals before adjourning in the wee hours of Sept. 16.
It takes a lot of tension out of the Legislature in the last week because we dont have to be jammed with new bills that we havent read, said state Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose. When you get stuff thats written, like, two hours before, its tough to decide whats best for your constituents.
More by CALmatters California rethinks how it remembers its history
Beall said the three-day requirement helped him secure enough votes to pass a landmark package of bills intended to supply California with more affordable housing. It pushed the sponsoring lawmakers to explain the proposals earlier, he said, and answer questions. And when it came time to vote on the complex plan to raise real estate fees and streamline environmental reviews, Beall said, his colleagues were confident that no new wrinkle had been slipped in at the last minute.
It gives us a little more comfort level in voting for something like this that is very complex, he said.
On the other hand, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, blamed the three-day rule for torpedoing one of his key bills, saying it gave him less time to negotiate. Powerful unions and utility companies opposed his proposal for all electricity in California to come from clean, renewable sources, and the Assembly declined to take it up for a vote.
Its taken away a lot of the creativity in terms of last-minute, last-second negotiations, de Leon said. People dont understand: Seventy-two hours is like dog years during the last week of the legislative session. Seventy-two hours is like three months.
Eliminating such last-minute deals was exactly the point, said Charles Munger Jr., a Republican activist who spent nearly $11 million on the campaign for the law, which was Proposition 54 on the statewide ballot in 2016. Bills that cant withstand three days of public review are probably not good for the public, he said.
I think the process (this year) has worked better, Munger said. Im pleased so far, and I will find out in due course if there were any problems.
A fellow proponent of the initiative, former state lawmaker Sam Blakeslee, raised concern that the Legislature is not following its requirement to allow people to video-record legislative proceedings. The initiative says the Legislature must allow people to record and, by next year, make videos available online.
Blakeslee, a Republican from San Luis Obispo, said a rule the Legislature has proposed since the new law kicked in could limit access for people who want to make their own recordings.
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Were still working to help the Legislature come up with the right approach, Blakeslee said.
Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber (Tehama County), said that overall the new law has brought more transparency to the lawmaking process. But as the frenzy to pass bills reached a crescendo on the sessions final night, Nielsen complained that there remain ways to obfuscate.
We are having policy committee hearings as we speak, he said around 9 p.m. Committees on banking, education and health held night hearings on bills rewritten just a few days earlier. That gave lawmakers scant opportunity or none for meaningful input, Nielsen said.
The three-day law does not address how much time must pass between a committee hearing and a floor vote. It just says that before the bill goes to the floor, it must be published online for at least three days.
Thats a game changer for the hundreds of lobbyists who pack Capitol hallways in the final days of the lawmaking year. Theyre used to urging legislators to make minor tweaks and do wholesale rewrites all night long.
Now, lobbyist Paul Bauer observed as he waited outside the Senate chamber, You cant ask them to change the bill. They wont do it.
Laurel Rosenhall reports for CALmatters.org, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California politics.
Pakistan is lobbying in the United Nations to get India declared a state sponsor of terrorism, a leading Pakistan daily reported just hours after Sushma Swaraj tore into Islamabad at the UN General Assembly for supporting terror groups.
Sushma Swaraj tore into Pakistan at the UN General Assembly over its support for terrorism (Photo: Twitter/MEA)
By India Today Web Desk: "India is the mother of terrorism in South Asia," Pakistan told the United Nations in response to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tearing into Islamabad for its support for terror groups.
Now, it seems, Pakistan, which also targeted PM Narendra Modi in its response to Sushma, wants the world body to declare India a 'state sponsor of terrorism', a tag that carries with it threats of international sanctions.
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This is according to a report in The Express Tribune, a Karachi-based English language daily. The Tribune report, which cites unnamed sources, says that Pakistan has begun lobbying efforts in the United Nations to get India declared a 'state sponsor of terrorism'.
For this, the Tribune says, Pakistan is approaching China and Russia, two of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council, for support.
Pakistan lobbying in UN to get India declared state sponsor of terror https://t.co/OmGTexMVlC- The Express Tribune (@etribune) September 24, 2017
Beijing, Islamabad's all-weather ally, is already said to be on board, the Tribune report says. The newspaper's sources further say the United States, another permanent UNSC member, will also be 'taken into confidence' over the matter.
The report does not mention when Pakistan's lobbying efforts to get India designated a state sponsor of terror began.
Nor does the Tribune say whether Islamabad's actions were sparked by Sushma Swaraj's hard-hitting speech at the United Nations General Assembly where she excoriated Pakistan for its continued support to terrorist groups.
The report, which came hours after Swaraj delivered her speech, does mention Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's speech in the UNGA from earlier this week in which he accused India of running a "campaign of subversion and state-sponsored terrorism".
CAN PAKISTAN DO IT?
Can Pakistan really get India declared a state sponsor of terrorism? For Islamabad to be successful in the endeavour, it would require the support of all five permanent member of the UN Security Council - US, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China.
Even if the report were to be believed in that Beijing has indicated its backing for the move, it must be noted that Moscow has usually stood by New Delhi and that Washington has soured on Islamabad.
In recent times, the Donald Trump administration in the US has increasingly voiced its disapproval of Pakistan's 'double game' in the fight against terrorism.
President Donald Trump, in a departure from US tradition, explicitly called Pakistan out for offering terrorists "safe haven", when he unveiled his new South Asia policy.
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It must also be noted that even China has refused to get involved in the Kashmir issue, saying as recently as this week that the matter was something that New Delhi and Islamabad must solve on their own.
WATCH | Sushma responds to Pakistan PM Abbasi, slams Islamabad on terrorism at UNGA
--- ENDS ---
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America is terribly polarized.
And its all on account of California.
The trouble is not merely that California itself is such a politically polarized place. Or that California contributes to the many causes of polarization: partisan media, economic anxiety, technological change and income inequality.
No, the artichoke heart of the matter is that California is simply too big, too exceptional and too 21st century to fit an America governed by 18th century rules and mid-20th century nostalgia.
The way in which California fuels polarized national elections is paradoxical: We divide America precisely because we balance out the country culturally and politically. California, as a large progressive check on a conservative country, makes America a 50-50 nation in matters political.
But Americas political system is simply not set up to work in such a narrowly divided polity. The United States is famously a system of checks and balances, in which governance requires big majorities or broad consensus. One path to consensus is a strong and currently elusive ethic of bipartisanship. The other reliable way to achieve consensus is to have one dominant political party that can make changes easily. California blocks both paths.
As political scientist Frances Lee has shown, the country produced more compromise from 1933 to 1981, when Democrats dominated Congress and presidential elections usually produced landslide victors. But in the 80s and 90s, as California transformed into a Democratic stronghold, the dynamic shifted. There hasnt been a presidential landslide since 1988. And party control of both the House and Senate has flipped several times.
Because elections are so close, American politics has become so relentlessly competitive as to be dysfunctional. To win in this system, parties magnify their differences at the expense of governing and exploit every tiny advantage, from election procedures to the redistricting process.
When party control seemingly hangs in the balance, Lee writes in Insecure Majorities: Congress and the Perpetual Campaign, members and leaders of both parties invest more effort in enterprises to promote their own partys image and undercut that of the opposition. These efforts at party image-making often stand in the way of cross-party cooperation on legislation.
This dynamic creates two deep grievances involving the Golden State.
The first is the complaint, heard increasingly in other parts of the United States, that California is a great nullifier. Many Americans simply cant accept the power of Californias huge population, wealth, culture and technology to frustrate efforts to enshrine their old-fashioned bigotries in national policy. It makes America even madder that were not at all sorry about our exceptionalism. But so what? To quote the famously pithy Austro-Californian philosopher Arnold Schwarzenegger, Everybody pities the weak. Jealousy you have to earn.
The second grievance is Californias own. The rickety, old American Constitution routinely hamstrings our democratic preferences. The 2016 election made this plain: We voted in record numbers for Hillary Clinton, who won the national popular vote by nearly 3 million votes, but saw our choice nullified by the Electoral College, which makes the votes of people in a lightly populated state like Wyoming three times more valuable than our own ballots.
And dont forget the House of Representatives, which gives outsize power to rural voters in other states, and the Senate, which gives California the same two senators as the 49 lesser states. My fellow Californians, the next time some American apologist defends the countrys constitutional structure as anything but a conspiracy against California, look them in the eye and say: North and South Dakota, dude?
Because California stands at the heart of the problem, there are two ways to address American polarization. The first and better path is through democratic reform. Lets elect the president by popular vote and replace Congress with a 21st century parliament, in which one states huge size doesnt count against it.
In such a system, you could keep the checks and balances. One party, the Democrats, would dominate Congress and the presidency and be able to govern.
But if the Constitution remains inviolate, then the United States would be far more governable if California left the union. America would be far poorer, but Republicans would be the clear governing party.
For now, however, the country is in a stalemate. The rest of America wont surrender the excessive representation it has. And California wont bow to an antidemocratic America that nullifies our values.
If the United States is ever going to cure its polarization, something will have to give: the American Republic. Or California.
Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zocalo Public Square. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at SFChronicle.com/letters.
National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, former president of Goldman Sachs, said recently that only morons pay the estate tax.
Im reminded of Donald Trumps comment that he didnt pay federal income taxes because he was smart. And billionaire Leona Helmsleys comment that only the little people pay taxes.
What Cohn was getting at is how easy it is nowadays for the wealthy to pass their fortunes to their children tax-free. And, therefore, why no one should worry about getting rid of the estate tax, as Trump and Cohn plan to do.
Actually, theres good reason to go a step further by raising and expanding the estate tax.
Right now, the estate tax applies only to estates worth about $11 million per couple. Wealthy families stash money above this amount into dynastic trust funds that escape additional taxes.
No wonder revenue from the estate tax has been dropping for years, even as wealth has become concentrated in fewer hands. The tax now generates about $20 billion a year, which is less than 1 percent of federal revenue. And it applies to only about 2 of every 1,000 people who die.
Theres another part of the tax code that Cohn might also have been referring to, where revenue has been dropping capital gains taxes paid on wealthy peoples stocks, bonds, mansions and works of art when they sell them.
If the wealthy hold on to these assets until they die, the tax code allows their heirs to inherit them without paying any of these capital gains taxes. According to the Congressional Budget Office, this loophole saves heirs $50 billion a year.
The estate and capital gains taxes were originally designed to reduce inequality and prevent the growth of dynasties in the United States. Theyve been failing to do that. The richest one-tenth of 1 percent of Americans now owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent.
Many of todays superrich never did a days work in their lives. Six of the 10 wealthiest Americans alive today are heirs to prominent fortunes. The Walmart heirs alone have more wealth than the bottom 42 percent of Americans combined.
Rich Millennials will soon acquire much more of the nations wealth.
America is now on the cusp of the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history. As wealthy Baby Boomers expire, an estimated $30 trillion will go to their children over the next three decades.
Those children will be able to live off of the income these assets generate, and then leave the bulk of these assets which in the intervening years will have grown far more valuable to their own heirs, tax-free.
After a few generations of this, almost all of the nations wealth will be in the hands of a few thousand families.
Dynastic wealth runs counter to the ideal of America as a meritocracy. It makes a mockery of the notions that people earn what theyre worth in the market, and that economic gains should go to those who deserve them.
It puts economic power into the hands of a relatively small number of people who have never worked, but whose investment decisions will have a significant effect on the nations future.
And it creates a self-perpetuating aristocracy that is antithetical to democracy.
The last time America faced anything comparable to the concentration of wealth we face now was at the turn of the last century.
Then, President Teddy Roosevelt warned that a small class of enormously wealthy and economically powerful men, whose chief object is to hold and increase their power, could destroy American democracy.
Roosevelts answer was to tax wealth. He advocated for the establishment of an estate tax. The modern U.S. estate tax was established in 1916, less than a decade after Roosevelts presidency ended, and the capital gains tax was established in 1922.
But since then, both have been eroded. As the rich have accumulated greater wealth, they have also amassed more political power, and theyve used that political power to reduce their taxes.
Roosevelt, a Republican, helped create a movement against dynastic wealth. Trump and todays congressional Republicans will not follow in his footsteps. I doubt even todays Democrats would do so if they had a chance. Big money has become too powerful on both sides of the aisle.
But taxing big wealth is necessary if were ever to get our democracy back and make our economy work for everyone rather than for a privileged few.
If Cohn and his boss cared about Americas future, theyd raise taxes on great wealth. Roosevelts fear of an American aristocracy is more applicable today than ever before.
2017 Robert Reich
Robert Reich, a former U.S. secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at UC Berkeley. He blogs daily at www.facebook.com/rbreich. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at SFChronicle.com/letters.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders swing through California and Hillary Clintons book tour underscore the Democrats problem in the aftermath of the 2016 election.
The problem: The partys two main factions are clinging to the leaders of yesterday rather than looking forward.
Berners have to come to grips with the fact that for all the energy the Vermont senator brought to the election, his voters did not turn out when it counted.
Had the Berners voted in the final showdown, Donald Trump would not be president. And, to this day, Sanders remains an independent. Like Trump, hes a one-man party.
The Sanders Partys biggest issue is single-payer health care, which would put the government in charge of your insurance. Aiders and abetters, who included Sen. Kamala Harris of California, decided to make their big push before the GOPs repeal-and-replace effort was officially dead a miscalculation that gave the Republicans a major talking point at exactly the time they needed it.
The non-Bernie Democrats are more nuanced and practical, focusing on saving Obamacare rather than pushing a plan that would mess with millions of Americans coverage. The problem is that they have no one at the top with the popular heft of Sanders unless you count Clinton, who hit the comeback trail at just the wrong time.
Not that there was a right time. Clinton would have made a fine president, but thats never going to happen, and the partys job is to figure out which Democrats have a legitimate shot in 2020.
That list doesnt include Clinton. Or Sanders I said Democrats.
What happened: I picked up the audio version of Clintons book. Im three hours in, and I still cant figure out what point she is trying to make. But I do love the sound of her voice.
Pelosi shout-down: There was no reason for activists shout-down of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi at her pro-Dreamer news conference last week. But then, thats the way it is in politics these says the relentless anger eventually visits friends and enemies alike.
Pelosi and her Democratic colleagues who were prevented from speaking, Reps. Barbara Lee and Jared Huffman, are fully capable of absorbing varying points of view en route to arriving at better public policy. Some people may be disappointed that practicality is part of the equation, but without it, nothing gets done.
One-liners: Rec and Park boss Phil Ginsburg finally witnessed a family-appropriate comedy day in the park last Sunday. The best line came from from Will Durst: The trouble with Trump stories is that the Republicans believe that they are lies and the Democrats believe that they are true. Neither thinks they are funny.
It all happened in Sharon Meadow, which, thanks to a two-year effort by Durst and his wife, Debbie, is now Robin Williams Meadow.
Movie time: American Assassin. This action movie, starring Dylan OBrien and Michael Keaton, appears to have been made with the Trump audience in mind. It may be a little disquieting for the Trumpsters, however, because all the bad guys turn out to be American-born, American militarily-trained, and American-assassinated.
Fly away: I climbed aboard a twin-engine helicopter at Buchanan Field in Concord the other day for a trip to Oakhurst in Madera County, near the entrance to Yosemite National Park. The flight lasted an hour, or less time than it took to drive from San Francisco to Concord.
Once we landed, I headed to the Chateau du Sureau, a little-known but highly prized restaurant, for a fundraiser for Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno. The four-course meal started with corn soup and ended with apple strudel, which figures, because founder Erna Kubin-Clanin hails from Vienna.
Then it was back to Concord on the chopper. Now, helicopters are not my favorite mode of transportation, and I have to admit I was a bit nervous.
But then the the pilot said, Dont worry, Mayor Brown. I fly the most important person in the world in my helicopter.
Whos that? I asked, looking around.
Me. The pilot.
Now thats my kind of flight guy.
Want to sound off? Email wbrown@sfchronicle.com
Political events in the Bay Area
Town hall: Assemblywoman Catharine Baker, R-San Ramon, holds a town hall meeting at the Orinda Library auditorium, 26 Orinda Way, Orinda, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday.
Voter registration: Volunteers will help new U.S. citizens register to vote after swearing-in ceremony. Sponsored by Democracy Action, which works to advance Democratic candidates. 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday outside the Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. https://demaction.us
D.A. candidates: Alameda County District Attorney Nancy OMalley and 2018 challenger Pamela Price hold a town hall, sponsored by the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives and Starbucks. 5 to 7 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Merritt College student lounge, 12500 Campus Drive, Oakland. http://bit.ly/2xkrDvH
Food stamps: Alameda County Community Food Bank hosts an event to raise awareness about SNAP (food stamps) and urge Congress not to cut antihunger programs. Free. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at 7900 Edgewater Drive, Oakland. www.accfb.org
Conservation and cannabis: A discussion of the effects of legalized marijuana cultivation on Bay Area public and private lands, sponsored by the Bay Area Open Space Council. 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at the David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley. Tickets are $30 for nonmembers. Information and tickets: http://bit.ly/2w3dTm4
Veg fest: The 18th World Veg Fest promotes health, social justice and sustainability through vegetarian eating. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at the San Francisco County Fair Building, 1199 Ninth Ave. at Lincoln in Golden Gate Park. Tickets are $5 to $25, children 12 and under admitted free. http://bit.ly/2xgD7A9
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., San Francisco. http://bit.ly/2wJub72
To list an event, email Trapper Byrne at tbyrne@sfchronicle.com.
The Sonoma County Sheriffs Department on Saturday released the identity of a Santa Rosa man killed in a double shooting in Forestville Friday night that investigators suspect was drug-related.
Theros Frank Fountaine, age 46, was one of two men police found in a field near River Road at Trenton-Healdsburg Road in Forestville at around 6:40 p.m. Friday while investigating a shooting call.
Sam Goody, a regular at political protests, stood behind a folding table loaded with T-shirts and buttons for sale Sunday as hundreds gathered at UC Berkeley for what would turn out to be a much-hyped but brief appearance by right-wing showman Milo Yiannopoulos.
One of Goodys screen-printed tops read Black Lives Matter, the letters formed out of the names of men and women who were killed in police-involved shootings. Another shirt decried President Trump in unprintable messages.
Goody, a Bay Area resident, makes it a point to counter Trump supporters every time they show up in Berkeley to rally, something they have done several times this year. Sundays event was largely peaceful, but pro- and anti-Trump factions have clashed at other demonstrations.
Im dedicated to my cause and giving people the means to express themselves in a nonconfrontational way, Goody said. The rallies are calm and peaceful in the beginning. Then it turns. They have gotten more radical and intense over time. I usually pack up and leave at that point. I dont want to be in the center.
Goodys proceeds somewhere in the $5,000 range this year, he said go to the Oakland chapter of Black Lives Matter.
One of those on the other side Sunday was Ashlee Soltero, 21, who was wearing a red Make America Great Again cap. She drove from Southern California with friends to share a perspective she feels is too often suppressed in the Bay Area.
The criminal justice student at California State University Long Beach said she needed to stand up to what she sees as leftists intimidation.
These people are here to oppose fascism, and yet theyre trying to silence someones free-speech rights, she said.
She was also lured by the star power of Yiannopoulos, a former Breitbart News editor embraced by many on the far right.
Its always cool seeing celebrities in person, Soltero said. Were definitely making history here.
Tyler DeChance, 22, wearing a Trump-Pence Make America Great Again shirt, said he was there simply to engage like-minded people. The Berkeley City College student, who was far outnumbered by people who dont share his politics, said he was surprised to see so much hostility to his beliefs.
Its crazy its gotten this hyped up over a Republican speaker, he said. People should be able to speak regardless of their views.
Many protesters maintained that free speech goes too far when it becomes hateful, adding that is what Yiannopoulos offers.
Shauna Keddy, a 27-year-old elementary school teacher who lives in Berkeley, showed up Sunday in rainbow-colored clothes. She said she missed the Feb. 1 planned appearance by Yiannopoulos at UC Berkeley, which devolved into a melee when anarchist counterprotesters swarmed into Sproul Plaza. But she made it a point to attend this event.
Not everyone is committing violence, Keddy said. Its important to show that.
Pakistan has launched tirade against India after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's speech at the UNGA questioning the neighbouring country over its policy of state-sponsored terrorism. But, facts call for an introspection by Islamabad.
Hafiz Saeed at a rally in Islamabad. Former ISI chief Hamid Gul is sitting on his right. (Photo: Reuters file)
By Prabhash K Dutta: Following External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's speech at the UNGA where she exposed Pakistan over its doublespeak on terrorism, Islamabad has denied the charge that sponsored-terror is part of its state policy. At the United Nations General Assembly, India and Pakistan have traded charges accusing each other of sponsoring terrorism.
Despite the presence of terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Al Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Jaferia, Sipah-e-Sahaba, Al Badr, Harkat ul-Ansar, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, Jamaat ul-Fuqra and Muslim United Army on its soil, Pakistan audaciously denied giving shelter to terror groups.
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Several of these groups are known to have direct patronage of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The ISI is known to train the jihadi fighters associated with these terror groups and fund their operations mainly in India and Afghanistan.
TERRORISM AS STATE POLICY OF PAKISTAN
Following the embarrassing defeat in 1971 India-Pakistan war, former Pakistan Army chief and later President of the country, General Zia ul Haq devised the proxy war strategy against India. He called it "bleed India through a thousand cuts" policy.
This became Pakistan's state policy when Zia ul Haq became President of Pakistan. Though he died in 1988, Pakistan executed his plans. Since then Pakistani authorities have had close links with the terror and jihadi outfits. These elements have been used as part of their foreign policy with regard to India and Afghanistan.
Experts believe that after 9/11 terror attacks in the United States, another dimension was added to it. Pakistan became a "partner" of the US in the fight against terror. But, experts say that with joining hands with the US, Pakistan began its double game. It is, now, on both sides of terrorism.
Pakistan works with the US to get billions of dollars and then uses the same money to fund its jihad-inspired terror factory. Pakistan diverts aids from the US to fund terror activities of the groups it has created and nurtured over the years. There is fear in Pakistani establishment that if they are not given patronage, the terror groups might turn rogue and inflict greater damage on the country.
Pakistan, instead, helps terror groups operating from its land to carry out their activities in India and Afghanistan. Investigation into big terror attacks like those of 26/11 Mumbai incident of 2008 and Uri attack of September last year has exposed Pakistan's deep state. In both the cases, Pakistan has tried to slow down the pace of investigation to almost dead.
TERROR FACTORY OF PAKISTAN
Ashley J Tellis, an expert on Pakistan's terror sponsorship and a senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, has categorised the terror outfits nurtured by Islamabad under five categories.
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Sectarian: Terror groups like the Sunni Sipah-e-Sahaba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Shia Tehrik-e-Jafria fall in this category. These are religiously motivated groups. Their terror acts are largely confined within Pakistan.
Anti-Indian: Groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Harakat ul-Mujahadeen are the ones which carry out terror acts in Jammu and Kashmir and rest of India. These groups are funded, trained and given directions by the Pakistani Army and the ISI. The Mumbai and Uri attacks, as per evidence collected by the Indian investigators, were carried out on the direction of the ISI and senior Pakistani Army officials.
Afghan Taliban: The terror group of Mullah Mohammad Omar was supported and aided by Pakistan's ISI. Pakistan government was one of the few countries which recognised the Taliban government of Afghanistan.
When Indian Airlines flight 814 was hijacked in December 1999, they flew to take shelter under Afghan Taliban. Pakistan's ISI coordinated with them at that time. The group has lost much of its strength thanks to American attacks but it continues to operate from Quetta in Pakistan with the help from the ISI.
Al-Qaeda and its affiliates: Owing sustained attacks by the US and allied forces, the Al-Qaeda's back was broken by the end of the first decade of the 21st century. When Osama bin Laden was hunted down from Abbotabad in Pakistan, it lost its supreme leader. After Laden's death, the group split into various factions. The factions continue to operate from Pakistan with recognisable support from the ISI.
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Pakistani Taliban: This is an amalgamation of over a dozen terror outfits. This group is in conflict with the Pakistani government. However, many believe that several top leaders and senior officers in the Pakistan establishment extend support to them for their fundamental character and emphasis on sharia.
PAKISTAN'S DOUBLESPEAK ON TERROR
At the UNGA, Pakistan called India "the mother of terrorism" because India deals with terrorists - coming from the other side of the LoC - with stern hands in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi was angry over External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's comparison between the growth paths taken by India and Pakistan over last 70 years.
Sushma Swaraj said that while India produced doctors, engineers and became information technology super power, Pakistan produced terrorists and became terror factory of the world.
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Earlier, India's first secretary to UN, Eenam Gambhir called Pakistan "Terroristan" after Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqqan Abbasi accused India of committing "brutalities" in Kashmir. Abbasi made the comment while referring to counter-terror operations by security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, where Pakistan has been sending terrorists since 1989.
Inside Pakistan, the government shies away from taking action against anti-India terror outfits. In July last year, chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Lashkar-e-Taiba Hafiz Saeed led out a march of 30,000 fundamentalists in Karachi.
Hafiz Saeed openly called for violating LoC and carrying out attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and across India. But, Pakistan did not take any action despite it being a signatory to counter-terror conventions of the UN.
Several ISI officers including former ISI chief Hamid Gul were seen sharing dais with Hafiz Saeed, whom former Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf described as "our hero" in a TV interview.
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An hours-long standoff in San Francisco came to a deadly end Sunday morning for a man holding two children and his wife hostage, when police burst through the door of his apartment and opened fire, authorities said.
The wife and two children, ages 5 and 11, were unharmed in the overnight confrontation on Russian Hill. Officials did not identify the husband, describing him only as a man in his 30s.
Investigators trying to determine what led to the shooting picked through a pile of debris outside the apartment building that included childrens toys and spent police rounds. Authorities did not say whether they had found a gun or any other weapon inside the apartment, although police reported hearing what they believed were shots during the standoff.
Officers responded to the building on Salmon Street, a short alley off Pacific Avenue, around 11:35 p.m. Saturday to check on a report of a domestic disturbance involving a man with a possible weapon, said Sgt. Michael Andraychak, a police spokesman.
Upon arrival, officers heard yelling coming from inside the apartment and within minutes they heard a shot from inside the apartment, Andraychak said. At that point, officers called in hostage negotiators and tactical officers.
Negotiators spoke to the man for several hours, but around 2:50 a.m. he stopped responding, Andraychak said. Moments later, police heard what they believed to be another gunshot from inside the apartment and, fearing for the safety of the hostages, sent in the tactical team, Andraycak said.
Once inside, officers encountered the man and shot him, police said. He was pronounced dead at San Francisco General Hospital.
The wife and children were treated at the scene and released. They were not shot or seriously injured, Andraychak said.
Neighbors on Salmon Street reported hearing the commotion throughout the night, including an explosion from a stun grenade.
A woman who asked to be identified only by her first name, Cindy, said her mother lives across from where the shooting happened at the back of the dead-end alley. She said the children sometimes played in the street, but that her interactions with the man never amounted to more than a friendly wave.
Its shocking that something like this could happen in the neighborhood, she said. The neighbors all know each other, but that family pretty much just kept to themselves.
Police homicide and internal affairs inspectors are investigating the shooting, as are the district attorneys and chief medical examiners offices.
Police officials will hold a town hall meeting in the neighborhood within the next 10 days, which is department protocol.
Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
1 Officers shot: Two police officers were shot Saturday in New Haven, Conn., by a man authorities also suspect shot his wife. The officers responded to an apparent domestic shooting at a home around 10:30 a.m. When the officers arrived, they found a wounded 51-year-old woman. She was hospitalized in critical condition. The two officers were shot when they confronted the suspected gunman, identified as John Douglas Monroe. The officers, who are expected to survive, shot Monroe, who was hospitalized with serious injuries.
2 Staged death: A makeup artist helped police stage an Ohio crime scene to make the suspect in a murder-for-hire plot believe his requested target was killed by the would-be hit man, who actually was working with investigators. North Ridgeville police said Seljami Idrizi, of Grafton, was arrested last week after paying the informant, who provided him photos of the faked scene to prove the killing was done. Police say Idrizi asked a man he had befriended to kill a 43-year-old North Ridgeville man, and the would-be hit man contacted police in mid-September. No one was hurt. Police havent disclosed a motive.
By PTI: Shimla, Sep 24 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of an AIIMS hospital at Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh on October 3 and address a public rally there.
Union Health Minister J P Nadda, in whose home district the All India Institute of Medical Sciences is coming up, said the premier hospital would provide much-needed tertiary medical services to the people of Himachal Pradesh and its neighbouring states.
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BJP sources said Modi is also likely to formally inaugurate the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Dhaula Kuan in Sirmaur and lay the foundation stones for the permanent campuses of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh in Dharamsala and Dehra through video link.
State party chief Satpal Singh Satti said the prime minister would address a rally at Bilaspur.
The hospital will come up in a 200-acre area on the Shimla-Bilaspur highway. The institution is centrally located in the state and is a 2 to 3 hour drive from from Shimla and Kangra sides.
The state goes to polls later this year.
Nadda said the establishment of the institute in Bilaspur is a milestone in the list of achievements of the NDA government in the health sector. PTI PLB/PCL BSA
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With the Berkeley debut of Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group Saturday, Sept. 23, at Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances launched Joining Generations, an ambitious, four-part survey of African American choreography, to culminate in the spring with the 50th anniversary celebration of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
The California premiere of Wilsons 2013 Moses(es) inaugurates the project in arresting, if not entirely successful, fashion; still, it was past time to engage the Brooklyn dance maker, whose Bay Area debut seven years ago was memorable.
Wilson is thinking on a grand scale here; the unusual spelling of the title suggests, as does novelist Zora Neale Hurston, who inspired the piece, that there is more than one religion fostering its own Moses legend. Wilson seems to investigate several versions during the 70-minute piece.
It begins like a lecture as Wilson (all in white) and his seven dancers (all in red) introduce themselves, citing their years of service to the troupe. Wilson gathers up a bale of aluminum foil littering the stage, stuffing it all into a small red suitcase. He retreats to the sidelines, where he seems to control the performance, offering verbal cues and proposing a beat on a variety of unfamiliar percussion instruments, as well as an insistent clapping rhythm.
As for the dancing, which is heavy on shifting group unisons at the start, it encompasses a multiplicity of styles. The weighted manner and deep plies of West African movement are there, but somehow, the attack seems lighter. Just when you have had enough, Wilson will shuffle his dancers like playing cards. Near the middle, each of the dancers emerges from a nest of Jonathan Belchers lighting bridges, and their solos reveal surprising stylistic oddities; the mens lanky extensions suggest a troupe of Broadway hoofers.
Moses(es) is not, strictly speaking, a narrative, but the magnificent score provides some guides as to meaning. There are live vocals and cherished recordings by Louis Armstrong, the Klezmatics and the Blind Boys of Alabama, to cite just three. Wilson uses Wade in the Water very differently from how it is employed by Ailey in Revelations.
Despite one miscalculation, the second half of the work assumes a more tribal feeling. I loved the moment when the sound of the shofar generates celestial light, which turns out to be a cut-glass ballroom globe. And the seated dancers at the end may say more about the Exodus than a more up-tempo finale.
But Moses(es) is Wilsons only full-evening work to date, and the structure is uncertain. A sequence set to spoken texts (perhaps a tribute to postmodernism) in the second half seems poorly placed, if not irrelevant.
At least the dancers keep us interested here and everywhere else. In addition to the superb Rhetta Aleong, they included Yeman Brown, Paul Hamilton, Lawrence A.W. Harding, Raja Feather Kelly, Clement Mensah and Annie Wang. Those fanciful costumes were contributed by Naoko Nagata.
Allan Ulrich is The San Francisco Chronicles dance correspondent.
Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group, Moses(es). 3 pm, Sunday, Sept. 24, Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, www.calperformances.org (510) 642-9988
Ultraconservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos prayed, signed autographs and took selfies for about 15 minutes on the steps of Sproul Hall at UC Berkeley on Sunday, an appearance that cost the university an estimated $800,000, university officials said.
Hoping to prevent the kind of violence that shut down a scheduled speech by Yiannopoulos on Feb. 1, UC officials brought in an unprecedented number of police officers they declined to reveal how many from about 10 jurisdictions, including the little Kern County city of Taft, as well as police from other University of California and California State University campuses.
Security included a labyrinth of orange barriers, which prohibited access to Sproul Plaza until shortly before noon, requiring attendees to pass through a single metal detector to enter the area. In the end, only about 150 people in Sproul Plaza saw Yiannopoulos. Hundreds were still outside waiting to get in when he left.
Because we were operating and planning in the blind we just were not getting information from the student group we had to plan for what we felt was going to happen with speakers of this magnitude here, said UC Berkeley Police Chief Margo Bennett. And thats why we staffed it the way we did.
Bennett said that campus police and administrators would decide Sunday night whether to provide special security for the rest of the week.
Yiannopoulos arrived on the steps of Sproul Plaza shortly after noon, fulfilling his vow to show up even after student organizers canceled what had been billed as Free Speech Week, a four-day event that was to include Steve Bannon, President Trumps former White House adviser, and controversial conservative author Ann Coulter.
Despite calling the event a defense of free speech, Yiannopoulos didnt give a speech. He was shouted down as he tried to talk. He wasnt allowed to use an amplification system, a rule university officials said would apply to any private citizen who would seek to make use of the Sproul steps for a similar purpose.
Wearing a U.S. flag hoodie and accompanied by an entourage that included private security, he greeted supporters for several minutes, knelt down to pray, took selfies, signed autographs and then started singing the national anthem as protesters yelled at him, challenging him on his views regarding immigration.
Then, security escorted him from Sproul Plaza while police held back people who tried to follow him.
No, I didnt get to say much, Yiannopoulos told The Chronicle later in a text message, adding that he plans to return later this week or sometime in the next several months. We will be back to Berkeley over and over again, until the university starts treating its conservative students fairly.
He also criticized police, saying they prevented people from entering.
Nonsense, said UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof. He said the security screening was slowed after one person was caught with plastic knuckles, a weapon that wouldnt be caught by a metal detector.
Our job as a campus and as a police department wasnt to facilitate this event, Mogulof said. What drove our arrangements and our preparations and our decisions was the safety and security of the public, the campus community and any private citizens that may have come onto Sproul.
Several hundred people descended on the south side of the campus in anticipation of Yiannopoulos visit, split between those who supported him and those who didnt.
Throughout the morning, verbal sparring and a few scuffles occurred between the two sides, as well as competing chants of, USA! and Fascists go home!
Police banned weapons of any kind as well as face masks, perhaps deterring groups like the black bloc or antifa from participating.
Eleven people were arrested on various charges, most for carrying banned weapons, police said.
As the protests wound down Sunday afternoon and the crowd dissipated, university officials said that they would likely be looking at changing policies on events and speakers.
Its unclear if existing rules can accommodate these kinds of unprecedented protests, Mogulof said, adding that Chancellor Carol Christ is considering putting together an advisory group of students, faculty, experts and administrators to review those policies.
He noted that the event was initiated by a student group called Berkeley Patriot, organized by two students after Yiannopoulos first speech was canceled.
We need to ask ourselves, Should a relatively small student group have the ability to schedule four straight days of events? he said. Theres a lot for us to examine and think about.
Jill Tucker, Kimberly Veklerov, Lizzie Johnson and Nanette Asimov are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com, kveklerov@sfchronicle.com, ljohnson@sfchronicle.com, nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JillTucker, @LVeklerov, @lizziejohnsonnn, @NanetteAsimov
The Rajasthan High Court has sought answers from the Jodhpur administration and the state government over rising crime graph in the city.
By Rohit Parihar: Rajasthan High Court has taken a serious note of rising crime in Jodhpur following a series of firing incidents at public places and complaints of extortion.
Jodhpur businessman Vaudev Israni was shot dead on September 17 after having survived a similar attempt on his life three months ago. He was murdered even though the police provided security following his complaint about threat to life.
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The incident took place in Sardarpura, a posh area and constituency of former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
HIGH COURT FURIOUS OVER RISING CRIME: THINGS TO KNOW A furious bench of Justices Govind Mathur and Arun Bhansali summoned Principal Secretary (Home) Deepak Upreti yesterday. Earlier, the high court had summoned police commissioner Ashok Rathore, who has been holding the post for few years. A common criticism of the Rajasthan police is that its leadership has been in the hands of weak officers. Jodhpur, for long known as a very peaceful city, too has shown a considerable rise in crime in recent years. The NCRB data for 2015 shows that Jodhpur has the third highest rate of crime among cities. It also has the highest crime rate (13.7) of an attempt to commit murder per lakh population against India average of 2.9. Jodhpur has the highest rate of rape at 13.4 per lakh population standing ahead of Delhi. Jodhpur reports the highest rate of assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty with. Its average is 38.7 for every lakh population against the national average of 9.6. Jodhpur also has highest rate of cruelty by husbands or his relatives at 70.7 against the national average of 11.9. The crime rate of causing death by negligence is also highest in Jodhpur at 45.3 against the national average rate of 9. The city has the highest number and the highest rate of forgery cases in the country. Congress leader and former CM Ashok Gehlot hit out at the government and police commissioner Rathore saying that the administration had deliberately neglected Jodhpur as it was his hometown. He demanded transfer of Rathore from Jodhpur. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has intervened to control the damage. She has asked the Special Operation group headed by IG Dinesh MN to track those involved in cases of murders, extortion and other serious crimes in Jodhpur.
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By Meetu Jain: From bringing "good quality chicken, mutton and fish", to training dogs, to fortune telling, to printing wedding cards: the pretexts used by visitors to the residence of the then CBI chief Ranjit Sinha are as interesting as the purposes for which they came, says a Supreme Court-appointed panel's report.
Mail Today has accessed details of the ML Sharma committee's findings that were submitted to the SC in a sealed cover this year. None of those questioned by the panel denied visiting Sinha but almost everybody cited purposes other than official.
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Most of the frequent visitors or their companies are being investigated by the CBI in scams.
The committee probed 36 most-frequent visitors to Sinha's house.
For instance, a person who came 148 times recounted that "Smt Sinha would requisition his services for buying good quality mutton, chicken and fish from the market and also to discuss politics with her as she was interested in contesting Assembly elections from Delhi or Bihar," says the report. This visitor works in the office of the chairman of one of India's biggest oil and telecom majors. The son of a former DGP of Tamil Nadu came 144 times to Sinha's house to "train the ex-CBI chief's dogs" and on occasions was purportedly helping Sinha get access to an astrologer.
It's a different matter that this person was being probed for defaulting on loans of about Rs 45 crore from two banks. A Gurugram-based printer came 44 times to Sinha's residence, supposedly for designing of wedding cards. But the person who had free access to the ex-CBI chief's house was a former general manager of the Central Mine Planning & Design Institute, Ranchi. He visited Sinha 298 times in 15 months after he "retired from a high position in coal sector and was under probe by the CBI". M L Sharma refused to comment on the report. But it's the high-profile visitors who have raised eyebrows. A top honcho of a telecom and power company who was questioned in the 2G scam and whose company was embroiled in the coal scam visited 28 times to have a "cup of tea" and discuss "Shri Sinha's son's education".
Another top executive of the same company- now overseeing its newfound defence manufacturing interests- came 26 times as he was apparently apprising the CBI of its image in the market and the "perception of the government regarding the CBI". The panel panned the visit of "liaison" men to the ex-CBI chief's residence, saying "their visits with Shri Sinha couldn't have been without a purpose but it's not possible for the committee to give a definitive ruling as the PE files have not been made available by the CBI". A top meat exporter who is being probed along with a predecessor of Ranjit Sinha by agencies was a frequent visitor. The committee wonders whether the visits were "only for old times' sake or they had a deeper purport".
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In the heart-wrenching letter, the girl says she was forced to watch a pornographic film.
By India Today Web Desk: A student who claims to be from a private school in Haryana's Sonepat has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging she was raped inside her institution's campus by two staff members.
In the heart-wrenching letter, the girl says she was forced to watch a pornographic film.
But that wasn't all. When she complained to school authorities, she says, she was given this response: Such things happen.
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She wants immediate action to be taken against the culprits, and has threatened to commit suicide if that doesn't happen.
A Hindustan Times report said the two staffers have been booked.
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From legal weed to spectacular natural landscapes to ridiculously good burritos, California can seem like a paradise.
But it seems like nothing gives certain right-wing pundits more joy than whipping themselves into a froth counting all the ways California is a terrible, no good, very bad place to live and fantasizing about its demise.
MEXICO CITY A strong earthquake shook Mexico on Saturday, killing at least one person, toppling already damaged homes and a highway bridge, and causing new alarm in a country reeling from two even more powerful quakes that together have killed more than 400 people.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the new, 6.1-magnitude temblor was centered about 11 miles south-southeast of Matias Romero in the state of Oaxaca, which was the region most battered by an 8.1-magnitude quake on Sept. 7.
It was among thousands of aftershocks recorded in the wake of that earlier quake, which was the most powerful to hit Mexico in 32 years and killed at least 96 people.
The government of Oaxaca state reported that some homes collapsed and one woman died when a wall of her home fell on her in the town of Asuncion Ixtaltepec.
Four people were injured in Juchitan and three in Tlacotepec, but none of their lives was in danger. Another person suffered a broken clavicle in the town of Xadani. Three hotels and two churches were damaged and a highway bridge collapsed. The Federal Police agency said the bridge already had been closed due to damage after the Sept. 7 quake.
Bettina Cruz, a resident of Juchitan, Oaxaca, said by phone with her voice still shaking that the new quake felt horrible.
Homes that were still standing just fell down, Cruz said. Its hard. We are all in the streets.
U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Paul Caruso said the new temblor was an aftershock of the 8.1 quake, and after a jolt of that size even buildings left standing can be more vulnerable.
Buildings swayed in Mexico City, where nerves are still raw from Tuesdays 7.1-magnitude temblor that has killed at least 305 across the region. Many residents and visitors fled homes, hotels and businesses, some in tears.
At the Xoco General Hospital, which is treating the largest number of quake victims, workers ordered visitors to evacuate when seismic alarms began to blare.
That included Syntia Pereda, 43, who was reluctant to leave the bedside of her sleeping boyfriend. Jesus Gonzalez, 49, fell from a third-story balcony of a building where he was working during Tuesdays quake and was awaiting surgery.
But she controlled her emotions, went outside and came back when the trembling was over.
We are getting used to this, Pereda said. Every so often we hear the alarm ... you say, well, it is Gods will.
Alejandra Castellanos was on the second floor of a hotel in a central neighborhood of Mexico City and ran down the stairs and outside with her husband.
I was frightened because I thought, not again! Castellanos said.
Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said there were no reports of significant new damage in the capital, and rescue efforts related to Tuesdays quake were continuing. He reported that two people died of apparent heart attacks during the new temblor.
At the site of an office building that collapsed Tuesday and where an around-the-clock search for survivors was still ongoing, rescuers briefly evacuated from atop the pile of rubble after the morning quake before returning to work removing cement, tiles and other debris.
As rescue operations stretched into the fifth day, residents throughout the capital have held out hope that dozens still missing might be found alive. More than half the dead 167 perished in the capital, while an additional 73 died in the state of Morelos, 45 in Puebla, 13 in Mexico state, six in Guerrero and one in Oaxaca.
Along a 60-foot stretch of a bike lane in Mexico City, families huddled under tarps and donated blankets, awaiting word of loved ones trapped in the pile of rubble behind them.
Lidia Albarran, whose niece was buried in the collapse of an office building a block away, heard the alarm and worried that the latest quake could endanger those under the pile of rubble.
You feel fear. Before, earthquakes did not make me afraid, but now ... thinking about all that could have happened in the building, Albarran said.
In a city still on edge, many residents have spoken of lingering anxiety: imagining the ground is moving when it isnt, hearing a police siren wail and thinking its a quake alarm, breaking into sobs at unexpected moments.
There is collective panic. I feel afraid even when a car passes by, said Dulce Bueno, who came Saturday morning with her husband and daughter to the hard-hit Condesa neighborhood. They brought suitcases to collect the belongings of their daughter, who lived in a damaged building beside one that collapsed and who is now moving in with them.
They have told us it is well constructed, that its a bunker, Bueno said of her own home. But if the tremors continue, will it hold up?
Vicente Aparicio, 76, gazed at the building where he lived in southern Mexico City as his wife listened to an engineer explaining the damage it had suffered. He pledged never to return; his family is fortunate enough to have another apartment to go to and the means to go on with their lives.
But what about those who do not? Aparicio wondered.
He added: How does a city recover from a shock like this?
Peter Orsi, Maria Verza and Gisela Salomon are Associated Press writers.
COXS BAZAR, Bangladesh The huge exodus of Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar to escape brutal persecution appears to have slowed, but several recent refugees say tens of thousands are huddled near beaches or in forests waiting to escape.
Some Rohingya who have fled over the past week said Myanmar army soldiers were shooting at those trying to flee to Bangladesh. Others said thousands were stuck in Myanmar because most boatmen had made the crossing to safety themselves and soldiers had burned many of the boats that remained.
Over the past month, an estimated 430,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh as their homes and villages were set on fire by mobs of soldiers and Buddhist monks. They have brought with them accounts of soldiers spraying their villages with gunfire.
In the first three weeks of the latest convulsion of violence in Myanmars Rakhine state, tens of thousands of Rohingya poured into Bangladesh each day, walking for days through forests or taking rickety wooden boats on the rain-swollen Naf River. Many crossed into the country via the thin sliver of the Bay of Bengal that separates Myanmar from Bangladesh.
Syed Noor, a recent escapee, said Sunday that tens of thousands of Rohingya were waiting at border points in Myanmar desperately trying to cross the border. Noor said other people from his village and other villages near the Rakhine town of Buthidaung were hiding in forests near the Naf River.
They are stuck in one place because the Myanmar army is shooting at us, he said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said Sunday that the exodus of Rohingya from Myanmar to Bangladesh is the most urgent refugee emergency in the world right now.
I was struck by the incredible magnitude of their needs. They need everything, Grandi said in Coxs Bazar.
Myanmars leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, said last week that military operations in the troubled areas had ceased a few weeks ago. She also said the great majority of Muslims within the conflict zone were still in their villages and that more than 50 percent of their villages were intact.
But Amnesty International said as recently as Friday that fresh fires continued in Rakhine.
Muneeza Naqvi is an Associated Press writer.
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(Adds details of divisional results, China Farms and Beingmate)
Fonterra Cooperative Group's full-year gross margin dropped about 4 percentage points as the dairy company paid more for milk, while rising prices offset a decline in volumes. The changing mix didn't alter Fonterra's forecast payout.
Fonterra's gross margin fell to 17 percent in the year ended July 31 from 21.1 percent a year earlier, the Auckland-based company said. Normalised earnings before interest and tax dropped 15 percent to $1.2 billion. Ebit from ingredients, its biggest business, fell 22 percent to $943 million, while earnings from consumer & food service rose 6 percent to $614 million as increased volumes and sales were offset by "significantly higher input costs."
Sales rose to $19.2 billion from $17.2 billion while cost of sales climbed to about $16 billion from $13.6 billion.
The full-year results gave Fonterra room to answer some critics about its offshore strategy, including its investment in Beingmate Baby & Child Food, the unprofitable Chinese infant formula producer and distributor that sells Fonterra's Anmum formula in China. It took an impairment loss of $35 million on its 18.8 percent stake, reducing the carrying value to $617 million, which it said reflected Beingmate's share price slide and recent losses. Still, "the market fundamentals remain strong and the changes to the regulatory regime, anticipated to be effective from 1 January 2018, are expected to have a positive impact on Beingmates financial performance," it said.
Fonterra also disclosed normalised ebit of $1 million for China Farms, its dairying operations in China, compared with an ebit loss of $59 million a year earlier. The turnaround was "due to our ongoing efforts to reduce costs through operational efficiencies, milk volume growth and the impact of the market-based internal raw milk price." Still, Fonterra's gross margin from ingredients included "a $38 million loss representing the difference between the domestic milk price and the internal raw milk price paid to China Farms."
Volumes at its ingredients division fell 5 percent to 22.4 billion litres of milk equivalent (LME), which reflected a "challenging New Zealand milk profile" and lower closing inventory carried into the year.
Volumes in consumer & food service rose 12 percent to 5.5 billion LME while the 6 percent growth in earnings reflected "significantly higher earnings in Greater China and strong sales and earnings growth by Soprole in Chile." Against that, significant increases in input costs put pressure on gross margins, partially offset by revenue growth, it said.
The company affirmed its forecast 2017/18 payout of $6.75 per kilogram of milk solids plus earnings per share in a range of 45-to-55 cents, making the forecast total available payout of $7.20 to $7.30, before retentions. The final cash payout was $6.52 for the 2016/17 season for a 100 percent share-backed farmer.
We will always need to manage variability across our cooperative both in global markets and in our local farming conditions," said chair John Wilson. "Weve demonstrated our ability to deal with those conditions and deliver on our strategy again this year. He said being able to maintain its forecast dividend "despite the milk price increasing by 57 percent over the year and the impact of negative stream returns was an excellent result."
Net profit was $745 million in the 12 months ended July 31 from $834 million a year earlier, Fonterra said.
Units of the Fonterra Shareholders' Fund rose 0.5 percent to $6.13 and have gained 1.7 percent this year.
(BusinessDesk)
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A news agency's initial report didn't say where the grave was found, or whether these Hindus were killed during the recent exodus of Rohingya from Aung San Suu Kyi's Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
By India Today Web Desk: Myanmar's Army has found the grave of as many as 28 Hindus killed by Rohingya militants, the news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) reported today.
AFP did not say where the grave was found, or whether the Hindus were killed during the recent exodus of Rohingyas from Myanmar.
Hundreds of Hindus are caught in the crossfire between Myanmar's military and Rohingya insurgents. They have fled to Bangladesh, and are placing their hopes on the Narendra Modi government in India.
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Nearly 500 are sheltered in a cleared-out chicken farm in a Hindu hamlet in Bangladesh's southeast, a couple of miles from where most of the Rohingya Muslims who have also fled violence in Myanmar since August 25 are living in makeshift camps.
The Hindu refugees say they are scared of going back to their villages in Buddhist-majority Myanmar's restive Rakhine state, but also wary of staying in mostly Muslim Bangladesh.
The Indian government, meanwhile, is making it easier for Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and other minorities from Bangladesh and Pakistan to gain citizenship in India.
UN CALLS FOR MASSIVE HELP
Meanwhile, the United Nations has appealed for massive help for the 429,000 Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh in recent weeks. The exodus followed a Myanmar military offensive, after attacks by Rohingya insurgents targeted security posts and an army camp. About a dozen people were killed in those attacks.
Myanmar says the offensive is a legitimate operation against "terrorists," but UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it was best described as ethnic cleansing.
The crisis has raised questions about Myanmar's transition to civilian rule under the leadership of Noble laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
After breaking her silence on the ongoing exodus in a State of the Union address, Suu Kyi told the news agency ANI that the Rohingya crisis was a complex problem which can't be solved overnight.
(Inputs from agencies)
--- ENDS ---
Z Energy says the first parcel of jet fuel will be pumped to Auckland International Airport later today now the refinery to Auckland pipeline, or RAP, is back up and running and it does not expect to change its full-year guidance after the disruption.
Restrictions were imposed last week after damage to the pipeline between the Marsden Point refinery and the Auckland depot disrupted fuel supply, prompting a joint industry and government response. Whangarei-based New Zealand Refining has said it expects to miss out on between $10 million and $15 million of pipeline and refining income after the disruption.
On Sunday, Energy and Resources Minister Judith Collins said the fuel would be ready to load on planes from early on Tuesday.
Z chief executive Mike Bennetts today said the parcel of jet fuel will be followed by more over the course of the week and petrol and diesel stocks will start to build, taking pressure off the truck bridging task.
"The industry will be reviewing airline allocations on a daily basis now and looks forward to resuming normal supply," he said.
Bennetts said Z is working to understand the potential impact on its financial performance given the uncertainty of how quickly the pipeline will get back to full capacity and will update the market with its half-year result on Nov. 9. However, "it remains unlikely that Z's full-year earnings guidance would change," he said.
For the current financial year, the company has forecast earnings, based on replacement cost operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and financial adjustments, of between $445 million and $475 million. It's 2017 earnings on that basis were $419 million.
Air New Zealand has also said it doesn't expect annual earnings to be impacted by the fuel disruption.
Bennetts noted that over the course of the outage the only inconvenience to Auckland motorists was a deliberate removal of 95 octane fuel from a small number of low volume sites, a temporary truckstop outage for a matter of hours and one equally short outage of 91 supply.
Z also said it would participate in any inquiry following the event. "This outage has highlighted how large part of the New Zealand economy rely on critical pieces of infrastructure and there is an important national conversation to be had around the cost/benefit of contingency investment," said Bennetts.
The company's shares last traded at $7.40 and have increased 1.9 percent so far this year.
(BusinessDesk)
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India Today visits refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Besides thousands of Muslim families, hundreds of Hindus have also taken refuge in Bangladeshi camps.
By Manogya Loiwal : Among those fleeing Rakhine province of Myanmar are also Hindu families from the Arakan region. Around 100 Hindu families from Rakhine have fled to Bangladesh following the attacks by Myanmar's security forces.
These families have taken shelter in camps raised at Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. India Today visited the camps where Hindus from Myanmar have taken refuge alongside their Muslim neighbours.
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The Cox's Bazar camp is being looked after by a few activists and social workers, who have presently turned a poultry farm into a temporary camp. With around 105 families, there are presently 550 to 600 people in this camp but the challenge is of arranging food supply for them.
HOW CAMPS OPERATE IN BANGLADESH
Sujan Sharma, the coordinator of Hindu camp committee explained the challenges. "We have informed the local administration for support but we are yet to get any help. We are relying only on United Nations Food Programme and other supplies," Sharma said.
"We need more food from government but not much is happening. Only private organisations are helping. Government has sent only 10 kg rice and one litre oil for 100 families. UNFP has sent 25 kg rice till now. We are feeding through what we are receiving from private donations," he added.
Even septuagenarian Sarobala said, "We came from Myanmar because of torture. But, the same is being repeated here. If we are getting food, there is no shelter even in rainfall."
Hindu refugee camp at Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (Photo: Manogya Loiwal
Malati, who wears sindoor and saree in Myanmar, is one of the refugees, who have fled Myanmar. She lives in the camp now. "We are living under constant threat to life. It is very dangerous situation. My father-in-law was called to other Rohingya camp and was beaten up because he asked for his dues. But, he got injuries in return," Malati said.
WHAT BANGLADESH OFFICIALS SAY?
The Bangladesh government has said that Rohingya people coming from Rakhine will be treated as a Myanmar national and identity cards will soon be issued for each of them. Only those having identity cards are being given relief materials including food and medicines.
The Bangladesh government has deployed its army for smooth distribution of the food and other relief materials at 12 camps. But, none of those camps shelter Hindu refugees from Myanmar. Deputy Commissioner of Cox's Bazar Mohammad Ali Hossain said, "They will be treated as Myanmar nationals and nothing else."
"There is huge number of Rohingya people, who have entered our country. The civil administration is doing its job properly. The civil administration has limited employees, so, we have taken a decision to involve the armed forces in distributing relief materials," he added.
--- ENDS ---
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By PTI: Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 24 (PTI) Sultan bin Muhammad Al- Qasimi, the sovereign ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah, today arrived in Kerala on a five-day visit.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who had invited Al- Qasimi to the state during his visit to the emirate last year, received him at the airport here.
Welcoming the ruler of Sharjah to Kerala and expressing happiness over Al-Qasimi accepting his invitation, Vijayan, in a Facebook post, said the visit would strengthen the relations between Kerala and Sharjah.
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"Kerala welcomes HH Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah. Still fondly remember his warm hospitality and the good words he expressed about Malayalees & Kerala during my visit to Sharjah last year (sic)," he wrote on the social networking website.
According to official sources, Al-Qasimi would call on Governor P Sathasivam at the Raj Bhavan here tomorrow.
He would also meet the chief minister and some of the other state ministers at the Raj Bhavan.
Vijayan is scheduled to host a dinner in Al-Qasimis honour at Kovalam, the famed beach resort near here.
On Tuesday, the ruler of Sharjah would take part in a convocation ceremony organised by the Calicut University at the Raj Bhavan, where the governor would confer an honorary D.Litt. degree on him.
Al-Qasimi is scheduled to leave Kerala on September 28, the sources said. PTI LGK RC RC
--- ENDS ---
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A masked gunman opened fire at a Nashville church Sunday, walking silently down the aisle as he shot unsuspecting congregants. At least one person was killed and seven others wounded, authorities said.
An usher confronted the shooter, who apparently shot himself in the struggle before he was arrested, police said.
The FBI said Sunday night it has opened a civil rights investigation into the shooting at the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ.
No motive was immediately determined. Church members told investigators that the suspect had attended services a year or two ago, said Don Aaron, a spokesman for the Metro Nashville Police Department. Nashville police did not immediately comment on several bizarre posts on the suspect's Facebook page in the hours before the shooting.
The gunman pulled into the church's parking lot as services were ending. He fatally shot a woman who was walking to her vehicle, then entered the rear of the church with two pistols and kept firing, hitting six people, Aaron said. Police said they later recovered another pistol and a rifle from the suspect's car.
Authorities identified the attacker as Emanuel Kidega Samson, 25, of Murfreesboro, who came to the United States from Sudan in 1996 and was a legal U.S. resident.
It was unclear whether the self-inflicted wound to the chest was intentional, Aaron said.
The gunman was discharged hours later from Vanderbilt University Hospital but remained in police custody. The Metropolitan Nashville police tweeted Sunday night that Samson will be charged with one count of murder and that multiple "additional charges will be placed later." He was ordered held without bail by a judicial commissioner.
Witness Minerva Rosa said the usher was "a hero."
"He's amazing," said Rosa, a member of the church for eight years. "Without him, I think it could be worse."
The suspect said nothing as he fired. While the gunman made his way down the aisle, Rosa said, the pastor started shouting, "'Run! Run! Gunshots!'"
Aaron called the usher, 22-year-old Robert Engle, "an extraordinarily brave individual."
The woman who was killed in the parking lot was identified as Melanie Smith, 39, of Smyrna, Tennessee.
The gunman and six others were treated for gunshot wounds at nearby hospitals, along with Engle, who was pistol-whipped, Aaron said.
Among the wounded was Joey Spann, who is the church's pastor and is a Bible study teacher at Nashville Christian School.
After the attack, the nearby New Beautiful Gate Church opened its doors to Burnette Chapel churchgoers as they reunited with loved ones. New Beautiful Gate Pastor Michael Mosby said he is neighbors with Spann.
"As a pastor myself, you come with the expectation of sitting down and having a service and not thinking about what can happen around you," Mosby said. "You never know who is going to come to the door or what reasons they would come to the door, come to your church and do something like that. We're always on guard. We just thank God many more weren't hurt."
Forty-two people were at the church at the time of the shooting, and all victims were adults, Aaron said.
The small brick church describes itself on its website as a "friendly, Bible-based group of folks who love the Lord and are interested in spreading his word to those who are lost."
Photos on the church's Facebook page show a diverse congregation with people of various ages and ethnicities.
On Samson's Facebook page, a post in the hours before the shooting read, "Everything you've ever doubted or made to be believe as false, is real. & vice versa, B."
Another post read, "Become the creator instead of what's created . Whatever you say, goes."
And a third post read, "You are more than what they told us."
Samson also posted several shirtless photos of himself flexing his muscles. In some he wears a tank top that reads "Beast Mode."
Nashville Mayor Megan Barry said in a statement that the shooting was "a terrible tragedy for our city." She said her administration "will continue to work with community members to stop crime before it starts, encourage peaceful conflict resolution and promote non-violence."
--By Kristin M. Hall and John Raby
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Local talent was the draw at Fenix Studios Red Carpet Event inside Eve Ultra Lounge in Rossville Saturday afternoon.
Students of the studio's Artist Development Program took the stage with various acts -- from monologues and reenactments, to modeling, musical and choreographed performances.
The inaugural showcase, between 1 and 5 p.m., was set up by Fenix Studio's owner/producer Tony Hanson as a way for his students -- ages 4 to early-20s -- to show off their progression, both skillfully and spiritually.
"A lot of parents brought their children here and the kids would be scared just to sing in front of anyone," said Hanson. "Now, to watch them go from their shy beginnings, to putting on these amazing, skilled performances is truly eye-opening.
"The families and I get to see their skills grow, as well as growing as individuals."
Fenix Studios plans to host the event each September for the foreseeable future.
The Talent and Artist Development Program is aimed at helping and teaching "interested artists, of any age, with any disability, from every walk of life," says Hanson.
Fenix Studios is located at 4442 Arthur Kill Road; those interested in participating in future programs can reach out via phone at 718-227-2345 or visit the studio's website at FenixStudios.com.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Borough President James Oddo has partnered with Uber to offer free transportation to and from breast cancer screening appointments during the entire month of October for any woman who needs a ride.
Oddo hopes the service, launched in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, will entice women to get mamographies.
"I want to eliminate all barriers that are stopping women from getting screened," said Oddo. "I'm pleased to partner with Uber on this program, which will make it easier for women to get to and from their necessary appointments. Now there's absolutely no excuse for not getting screened."
Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in Manhattan, recommends women age 40 and older should have an annual mammogram, along with an annual clinical breast examination. Women with dense breast tissue may also require yearly ultrasounds.
"The earlier cancer is found, the easier it is to treat. Despite recommendations to the contrary from some organizations, experts continue to emphasize the importance of mammograms in detecting breast cancer," said Oddo.
HOW TO GET YOUR FREE RIDE
Those who want to participate in the program must call the Borough President's office for a single use code that can be entered into the Uber app to claim their free ride to and from the appointment. Women must provide their name, contact information, and the date and location of their screening to be eligible. Women should call (718) 816-2198 to receive the code.
"Access to transportation should never be a barrier to receiving care," said Sarfraz Maredia, Uber general manager for Northeast U.S. and Canada. "Uber is honored to work with the Borough President to offer all Staten Island women a reliable way to get to and from their appointments."
FREE MOBILE MAMMOGRAPHIES
In addition to the free rides, Oddo is sponsoring his fourth round of free mobile mammography screenings this year on Oct. 3.
An appointment must be made for the Oct. 3 screenings, that will take place at:
Beacon Christian Community Health Center (2079 Forest Avenue) from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., (877) 628-9090.
Hylan Plaza parking lot in New Dorp (near CVS) from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., (800) 564-6868.
Bricktown Commons (Michael's Parking Lot) in Charleston from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., (800) 564-6868.
The screenings will be available to eligible women ages 40 and older who have not had a mammogram in the past year. All insurance plans will be accepted, and co-pays and deductibles will be waived. The mammograms will be free to uninsured women.
These screenings are eligible for the free Uber ride. The Oct. 3 screenings are sponsored by the New York State Cancer Services Program, the Cancer Services Program of Staten Island, and the American-Italian Cancer Foundation.
FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) says the Graham-Cassidy bill -- the latest in the controversial proposed overhaul of the Affordable Care Act -- would have a devastating impact on the healthcare of tens of thousands of veterans nationwide.
"We are here to make it clear as day that this latest version of Trumpcare, the 'Graham-Cassidy' legislation, is no better than the last failed plan. It's even more dangerous and reckless than its predecessors," said Schumer on Sunday standing alongside veterans from New York and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA).
"This bill would cause millions to lose health coverage, but we are here today because a very critical cohort is at risk: our veterans. They put their lives on the line for this nation--both young and old--and they shouldn't have to go to war to save their critical benefits. I promise to continue fighting to protect the healthcare for millions and bipartisanly work to improve the health care system overall," he added.
Senators Schumer and Cantwell say the latest version of Trumpcare, Graham-Cassidy, poses a threatening $4.15 trillion cut from states over the next two decades, including $436 billion in cuts to New York.
Both senators staunchly oppose cuts to Medicaid, which has provided one in 10 veterans with care, said Schumer. Specifically, both senators said that veterans must have access to primary care health services as well as mental health services and substance abuse support.
"America's veterans have made tremendous sacrifices to defend our nation. With that sacrifice comes a responsibility from the federal government to continue to provide veterans with access to affordable healthcare," said Cantwell.
"The Medicaid program is a lifeline for about 1.75 million veterans nationwide and 56,000 veterans in Washington state. Senator Schumer and I are calling on Republicans to abandon their damaging and draconian cuts to the Medicaid program in this disastrous Graham-Cassidy bill. Now is not the time to cut our veterans' benefits," she added.
PROPOSED CUTS TO MEDICAID
Schumer and Cantwell said that by capping the Medicaid benefit, as well as ending the Medicaid expansion, the Graham-Cassidy bill threatens thousands of New York veterans who rely on Medicaid for their health care.
Since 2013, approximately 15,000 New York veterans have gained health insurance, many due to the expansion of Medicaid, leading them to be able to afford coverage on the individual exchanges, according to Schumer's office.
In 2015, nearly 1 in 10 veterans nationwide had Medicaid coverage, including 19,000 in New York. The Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion was responsible for reducing the uninsured rate of veterans by approximately one-third, from 9.1 percent to 5.8 percent, in 2015, said Schumer's office.
By Arpan Rai: The Delhi-based national child rights commission witnessed something unprecedented recently in the wake of the murder of Pradyuman Thakur. Within a week, angry parents from across the country flooded the commission with e-mails to take urgent steps to ensure the safety of kids on school campuses and wanted more control over on-campus activities.
Some even wanted the government to take over schools that failed to comply with the necessary security parameters. It was as if their worst nightmare had come true. (Seven-year-old Pradyuman was found with his throat slit in the washroom of Ryan International School , Gurugram, on September 8.) "Nothing else will scare a parent like this incident," recounted Sanjay Bal, a parent.
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Understandably so, because it is the school where a child spends most of his/her time after home. The commission has now compiled a 27 point suggestion list from the aggrieved mails which it has received. Some of the suggestions include granting online access of CCTV footage to parents , insisting on separate washrooms for school staff, preventing drivers and conductors from school corridors and installing CCTV in school buses.
The commission, which works in tandem with the ministries of women and child development and human resource development, has decided to forward the demands to the respective ministries.
"All the suggestions will be forwarded to the relevant ministries so that they can be included in the upcoming safety norms that the central government is likely to introduce soon," said Priyank Kanungo, member, National Commission of Child Protection Rights (NCCPR) overlooking protection of children in education sector. Meanwhile, institutions like Modern School and Delhi Public School have tightened overall surveillance to improve the safety of its students Modern School in the Capital, for instance, has a log book at the school gate for recording the entry and exit of visitors into the campus, specifying the time of the visit.
"In addition to this, school has a public address system which is used to alert everyone and convey instructions in times of emergency," said Principal Dr Vijay Datta.
Modern School in the Capital, for instance, has a log book at the school gate for recording the entry and exit of visitors into the campus, specifying the time of the visit. "In addition to this, school has a public address system which is used to alert everyone and convey instructions in times of emergency," said Dr Vijay Datta.
The authorities have also ensured that entry into the swimming pool area is not allowed when it is not supervised. The school has limited the access to washrooms to outside staff by ensuring only earmarked washrooms , away from academic blocks are used by members of the class IV staff and outsiders. At Delhi Public School, RK Puram and Noida parents can keep a tab on their kids in real time through technology. The school has issued Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) cards for all its students.
"My husband gets a message every morning when my daughter reaches school and when she leaves the school thanks to RFID. There's some sense of assurance we get every morning when we send our daughter to school. At least I know where my daughter is," said Poonam Kumar, a parent whose daughter studies at Delhi Public School in RK Puram. Nonetheless not all parents are assured.
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"All these technologies can easily be tampered with as we have seen time and again," said Pradeep Sharma, whose daughter attends Sardar Patel Vidyalaya. It (RFID) will only tell me if my daughter is in school, not if my daughter is safe within the school. The onus of protecting my child does not lie on technology. It lies on the measures a school is taking to prevent unwanted incidents," said Sharma. Teachers, on the other hand, emphasises the need to restore the age-old formula of trust and bonding between parents and students.
"There is a need to empower students and encourage parents to work with us. Even 1,000 cameras cannot beat the strength of mutual respect and trust that parents share with teachers," said Meenakshi Tandon, teacher, Sardar Patel Vidyalaya's senior secondary department. "Knee-jerk reactions force schools to apply band-aid solutions. Such quick-fix solutions will not help as much as regular inspections and the trust in school authorities would," added Tandon.
--- ENDS ---
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By PTI: (Eds: Updating with fresh details, reactions)
Varanasi/Lucknow, Sep 24 (PTI) A number of students, including women, and two journalists were injured in a lathicharge by the police in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) where a protest last night against an alleged eve- teasing incident turned violent.
The violence erupted after some students, protesting against the incident on Thursday, wanted to meet the varsitys vice chancellor at his residence last night, according to the police and BHU sources.
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Security guards of the university stopped the students and informed the police, according to university sources.
A BHU spokesperson said some students wanted to "forcibly" enter the VCs residence but they were stopped by the BHU security guards.
Subsequently, there was stone pelting by "outsiders" who had joined the students, he said.
The police baton charged the students in a bid to disperse them.
A number of students, including women, and two journalists were injured in the lathicharge, the varsity sources said.
The police sources said some of its personnel were injured in the clashes during which the students allegedly indulged in arson.
Rajiv Singh, the station officer of the Lanka police station here, said that 16 students, who had been detained after the incident, were released this evening.
Following the violence, the district administration declared holidays from tomorrow till October 2 in all colleges and universities in Varanasi. The BHU had earlier announced that the holidays would start from September 28.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today sought a report from the divisional commissioner about the incident as various political parties, including the Samajwadi Party (SP), criticised the government and condemned the police action.
"I have sought a report from the divisional commissioner, Varanasi, about the entire incident," Adityanath said in Lucknow.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted, "Only a barbaric govt unleashes male police with lathis on women students. Why is BJP-RSS so scared of students?"
The baton charge on journalists led to protests in Lucknow with some scribes staging a sit-in near the chief ministers residence. They later submitted a memorandum to the district magistrate demanding action against the guilty.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav tweeted, "The government should resolve the issue by talks, not by lathicharge. It is condemnable. Action should be taken against the guilty."
Congress leaders Raj Babbar and P L Punia, along with scores of party activists, were detained today when they tried to visit the BHU. They were later released.
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The BHU issued a statement last night saying that the dharna by the students just a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit was "politically motivated" to malign the image of the university.
The alleged eve-teasing incident had occurred on Thursday night after which the students started the protest.
The university also said that security guards were regularly patrolling the campus and assistance from the police had been sought to maintain peace in the campus.
Senior officials, including District Magistrate Yogeshwar Ram Mishra and Superintendent of Police (City) Dinesh Singh, have visited the campus and police presence outside it beefed up.
Nearly 1,500 police personnel, includingcontingents of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), have been deployed to maintain law and order in the campus.
BHU students said that they undertook the protest near the universitys main gate against rising incidents of alleged eve-teasing on the campus.
A woman student of the Arts Faculty was allegedly harassed by three motorcycle-borne men inside the campus while she was returning to her hostel, triggering the dharna.
According to the complainant, the men abused her and fled when she resisted their attempts.
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The woman alleged that security guards, about 100 metres from where the incident happened, did nothing to stop them.
She said her warden, instead of taking up the issue with her superiors, asked her why was she was returning late to the hostel.
The wardens response angered the students who sat on a dharna at the main gate midnight Thursday.
BHU students have alleged they have to face eve-teasers on the campus regularly and the varsity administration was not taking any action to stop the miscreants.
The police and BHU professors tried to pacify the students yesterday, but they refused to end their protest and sought assurance from the university vice chancellor.
A press release issued by the information department of Varanasi said that a case has been registered against a Facebook page under the cyber law for allegedly posting provocative photos and videos relating to the violence. PTI CORR ABN KJ AKK SC KJ
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Guards at the Alexander Maconochie Centre gave escaped prisoners a two hour head start before telling police the men were missing, incident reports reveal.
Patrick McCurley, 28, and Jacob MacDonald, 21, fled the prison in September 2016 using a ladder to scale three fences in the space of ten minutes.
Prison guards did not notify police about the escape for two hours. Credit:Jay Cronan
The reports, obtained by The Canberra Times under freedom of information laws, show the men escaped at 11.13pm on September 2 but guards did not realise they were missing until around 4.30am on September 3.
It took another two hours until ACT Policing was alerted to the escape at 6.20am, by which time the men had been missing for more than seven hours.
Mount Rogers Primary canteen manager Amarylise Bessey coined a new phrase when the government introduced strict new guidelines on what could be sold in school tuckshops: hot dog syndrome.
The epidemic swept through some Canberra school canteens - and some still suffer the effects. The most telling symptom? The fear a canteen would no longer be profitable once junk food was wiped from the menu.
Amarylise Bessey and canteen helpers Ava Bessey 9, Hunter Taylor 12, Georgia Furbank 11, and Marylice Som 11 are proud to be selling healthier food. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos
"The successful canteens have proven that is not the case," Mrs Bessey said.
A recent Nutrition Australia ACT audit found 41 of 72 Canberra public school canteens have phased out unhealthy food and drink - classified "red" - over the past six years. Thirty now meet the National Healthy School Canteen Guidelines.
A Defence Department official has lost a legal battle centred on whether she should receive government compensation following an "unreasonable" work deadline.
The official took Comcare to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal earlier this month after the government agency refused her claim for workers' compensation.
The employee said an "unreasonable" deadline had significantly contributed to her anxiety. Credit:Michel O'Sullivan
She argued that an "arbitrary and unreasonable" deadline for a large piece of work had caused her to become "extremely distressed" and resulted in her suffering from anxiety.
The employee worked on procurement and contract support for areas of the Defence Department involved in tenders for work.
It was in Belconnen shopping centre, looking for a Christmas toy for his son in December 2007 when Jeremy Hanson was gripped by what may well have been a panic attack.
It was only weeks after returning from serving in Iraq and Jeremy's wife Fleur had asked him to pick up a toy car for Robbie.
Jeremy Hanson MLA has spoken of his struggles with depression. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong
"I went up to Belconnen mall and it's a normal environment, but what with so many people around and the lights and noise and I just sort of freaked out," he said.
"When I first got back I was fine, but then a few weeks later I sort fo fell into a big black hole into January and February and that's when I made the decision to get out of Defence."
Pakistan took the unusual step of sending its permanent representative to exercise its right of reply to Sushma Swaraj's United Nations General Assembly speech.
By Indo-Asian News Service: Pakistan has invoked acclaimed Indian novelist Arundhati Roy to attack External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's UN General Assembly speech where she denounced Islamabad as the "world's greatest exporter of havoc, death and inhumanity".
"Much of what is in the air in India now is pure terror, in Kashmir, in other places," Pakistan's Permanent Representative Maleeha Lodhi on Saturday evening quoted a statement made by Arundhati Roy.
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Delving into Indian politics, Lodhi also borrowed the standard lines of a section of Indian secularists who describe Prime Minister Narendra and his government as "fascist" and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as a "fanatic".
Usually a junior or mid-level diplomat delivers the rejoinders, but in a sign of how much it regards the impact of Sushma's speech, Pakistan took the unusual step of sending its permanent representative--one of the the senior-most officials in its diplomatic corps--to exercise its right of reply.
In her address earlier in the day, Sushma Swaraj said Pakistan was only interested in fighting India and sponsoring state terrorism.
Lodhi repeated the secularist line in India that "a racist and fascist ideology is firmly embedded in Modi's government and that its leadership is drawn from the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) which is accused of assassinating Mahatma Gandhi".
She slammed Adityanath's election to head Uttar Pradesh, saying "the government has appointed a fanatic as the Chief Minister of India's largest state".
"It is a government, which has allowed the lynching of Muslims," Lodhi said.
She went on to quote from Roy's November 2015 statement: "These horrific murders are only a symptom. Life is hell for the living too. Whole populations of Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, and Christians are being forced to live in terror, unsure of when and from where the assault would come."
Roy, who won the 1997 Booker Prize for her novel, "The God of Small Things", recently published her second novel, "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness", which unlike her first is political.
Lodhi took particular objection to Sushma's observation about Pakistan's founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had said, bequeathed a foreign policy based on peace and friendship.
Sushma Swaraj said it "remains open to question whether Jinnah Sahab actually advocated such principles."
Lodhi said Pakistan remained open to resuming a comprehensive dialogue with India but it should include Kashmir and end what she claimed was a "campaign of subversion and state-sponsored terrorism".
ALSO WATCH: Sushma Swaraj responds to Pakistan PM Abbasi, slams Islamabad on terrorism at UNGA
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The Northern Territory will join the ACT and South Australia in lobbying for a national space agency.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner will sign his government up to an existing memorandum of understanding between the latter states at the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide on Monday.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr and South Australia Premier Jay Weatherill signed a memorandum of understanding between their two governments to work together to put Australian into the space race in August. Credit:Finbar O'Mallon
Each jurisdiction will offer their assets and capabilities to help bolster Australia's space standing. Canberra has offered brains, South Australia land and research, and the Northern Territory its vast land primed for launch.
The state and territories will jointly lobby the federal government to increase Australia's international standing in the area.
ACT taxpayers have shelled out nearly $8000 per week for 24/7 security at a remote Aboriginal drug and alcohol retreat that has sat empty since it was built.
Clients won't start arriving at the controversial Ngunnawal Bush Healing Farm until next month, almost a year after the building was completed.
The Ngunnawal bush healing farm.
Indigenous leaders spent years fighting a protracted legal for the site at Miowera, in the Tidbinbilla Valley, away from the "distractions of the city".
But since last November, one security guard has been stationed at the Tidbinbilla farm 24 hours a day, seven days a week conducting perimeter patrols and acting as a deterrent to trespassers and vandals.
What else will the banks do to avoid a royal commission?
It is estimated Australians will save hundreds of millions of dollars now that the big four banks over the weekend agreed to ditch fees for customers of other institutions using their ATMs to withdraw cash.
CBA was the first mover, and within hours the other three big banks quickly followed suit.
This is a good move for customers, and one that is long overdue.
The major banks' main domestic rivals are calling for an overhaul of the prudential regulator's caps on property investor and interest-only mortgages, claiming the curbs are stifling competition.
Proposals from the second-tier lenders include clamping down on mortgages only in the hottest property markets such as Melbourne and Sydney, or putting tighter speed limits on the big four than the rest of the industry.
For almost three years, banks have faced a 10 per cent annual growth cap in their housing investor loan portfolios, enforced by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). In March this year, APRA imposed a further restriction, capping interest-only lending at 30 per cent of new loans.
As big banks sell peripheral businesses to zero in on the housing market, regional banks say these "macroprudential" policies are having unhealthy side-effects for competition.
Former Commonwealth Bank chief executive David Murray says there remains a strong case for bank involvement in wealth management, despite the recent trend of lenders offloading life insurance and funds management assets.
CBA last week became the latest bank to retreat from "manufacturing" wealth products, selling its life insurance arm for $3.8 billion and saying it may spin off the investment business of Colonial First State in an initial public offering.
CBA is hanging onto its superannuation and financial advice businesses. But a float of Colonial's funds manager, if it proceeds, would mean the dismantling of most of CBA's wealth management arm, as ANZ Bank also looks to sell assets, and after National Australia Bank has sold out of life insurance.
Even so, Mr Murray said some of the strategic reasons CBA bought Colonial under his leadership in 2000 were just as relevant today, if not more so.
The electricity market is such a mare's nest of stuff-ups and problems it's impossible to see the deeply divided Turnbull government making much progress in fixing it.
The goals of halting runaway power prices and reducing the risk of summer blackouts wouldn't be quite so daunting, for instance, were it not for the third goal of "sustainability" the euphemism you use when you can't say "climate change".
It's tempting to focus on the first two and forget the third, but even that wouldn't work because the inescapable reality of climate change means that, until the Turnbull government ends the "policy uncertainty" about its treatment of fossil fuels relative to renewables, it's unlikely to get sufficient investment in new production capacity to keep prices controlled.
Even if Turnbull were to patch together some weakened version of an (already toned down) clean energy target, that wouldn't do the trick if it failed to win the endorsement of the alternative government.
Elon Musk, the most hyped entrepreneur in the world right now, is scheduled to touch down again in Australia this week.
The South African-born billionaire is due to speak at the International Astronautical Congress, being hosted in Adelaide.
Musk is best known for his electric vehicle and energy company Tesla, which won a lucrative contract earlier this year from the South Australian government to supply the world's biggest lithium-ion battery.
But he is also CEO of SpaceX, a company building reusable rockets that it attempts to land on barges in the ocean.
Cromwell Property has shocked investors with its decision to pull its 1.09 billion ($1.7billion) float of a portfolio of European assets, known as CEREIT.
The group told the ASX at 7pm last Friday that after feedback from its advisers and key shareholders the interest level in the float was low and possibly unlikely to gain any traction to get over the line. Marketing of the float had only started last week.
Cromwell Property Group chief executive Paul Weightman. Credit:Chris Hyde
Cromwell, run by Paul Weightman, had already signalled that it would increase its stake in the IPO from an original 13.2 per cent to 25.9 per cent, but that failed to stir investor interest in a stable of European properties.
The float was flagged at the group's full-year results in August, with Mr Weightman saying the European real estate investment trust, to be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, was part of its strategy to diversify its capital sources and increase recurring income from the funds management business.
An open letter to more than half a million international students in Australia will urge them to check their pay packets to ensure they are being paid enough.
The Fair Work Ombudsman will send the letter on Monday encouraging them to get free help and advice from the agency about their workplace rights.
International student Rashid Saleem who was underpaid by a restaurant in the Illawarra Credit:Janie Barrett
Last financial year, 49 per cent of litigations the Fair Work Ombudsman filed in court involved a visa holder and more than a third of these involved an international student.
The Ombudsman has also commissioned research that found many international students were not aware of their rights under Australian workplace laws and did not know where to go for help.
Whenever Parliament sits, the House of Representatives begins with two prayers. For the first, Speaker Tony Smith says: "Almighty God, we humbly beseech thee to vouchsafe thy blessing upon this Parliament. Direct and prosper our deliberations to the advancement of thy glory, and the true welfare of the people of Australia."
Smith then recites the Protestant version of the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."
Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd are practising Christians, but the number of people who identify as Christian has dropped to 52 per cent, according to the 2016 census. Credit:Glen McCurtayne
These prayers symbolise Australia's Christian and, more particularly, Protestant heritage. They show how certain religious values are embedded into our institutions and civic life. Other examples include the opening words to Australia's Constitution, which invoke the blessing of "Almighty God", and the fact that Australia's head of state, the British monarch, is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
Australia's Parliament has begun its proceedings with prayers since 1901, but the time has come to debate the practice. The fact that prayers have been read for the past 116 years is not by itself a good reason for this to continue. Indeed, there are sound arguments why there must be change.
The Pakistani representative to the UN took aim at the Narendra Modi government after Sushma Swaraj's hard-hitting speech that took Islamabad to task for supporting terrorism.
By India Today Web Desk: After Sushma Swaraj's hard-hitting speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Pakistan fielded a top diplomat to counter the external affairs minister.
Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations, not only once again raked up the Kashmir issue, but also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government.
Without explicitly naming PM Modi or the Bharatiya Janata Party, Lodhi invoked the 2002 Gujarat riots and said that the "current political luminaries" in India "belong to an organisation that has the blood of thousands of Muslims of Gujarat on their hands."
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"This so called democracy is the world's largest hypocrisy," the Pakistani representative said, going on to allege that the Indian government is one "in which a racist and fascist ideology is embedded".
Pakistan's Ambassador to UN told the #UNGA that India, the world's so called largest democracy, is in fact the largest hypocrisy pic.twitter.com/WfE6w4YdHJ- Pakistan Mission UN (@PakistanUN_NY) September 24, 2017
While Maleeha Lodhi, among the senior-most officers of the Pakistani diplomatic corps, did not name Modi or the BJP, she did mention the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, alleging that it was the organisation responsible for Mahatma Gandhi's murder.
"[India's] leadership emanates from RSS, [which is the] same extremist group accused of assassinating Mahatma Gandhi," Lodhi said as she exercise Pakistan's right of reply to respond to Sushma Swaraj's UNGA address that took Islamabad to task for its support of terrorism (read Swaraj's full speech here).
She even raised the Uttar Pradesh assembly election and called chief minister Yogi Adityanath a "fanatic". "The [Indian] government has appointed a fanatic as the Chief Minister of India's largest state," Lodhi said.
Lodhi's remaining speech (read our complete coverage here) raised the standard Pakistani accusations of India committing rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. Lodhi more or less echoed the message that her Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi delivered during his General Assembly speech earlier this week.
Abbasi had accused India of supporting terrorism in south Asia and had demanded an international enquiry into alleged atrocities in Kashmir. Responding to Abbasi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Saturday that those who were listening to the Pakistani prime minister's address were saying, "Look who's talking."
(With inputs from IANS)
WATCH | Sushma slams Islamabad on terrorism at UNGA
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Refugees have left one of Australia's offshore detention centres on Sunday for the United States as part of a swap brokered by former US president Barack Obama last year.
Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul said he had spoken to some of the group by phone and that 22 men were in Port Moresby on Sunday night.
A supplied image of asylum seekers leaving the Manus Island detention centre on Sunday. Credit:AAP/Supplied by Refugee Action Coalition
Mr Rintoul said the group - including Sudanese, Afghan and Rohingya asylum seekers - had been told they would be flown to the United States via the Philippines on Wednesday.
"They're happy they're going, and they never want to hear about Australia again," he said, speaking from Sydney.
Standards and practices vary around the world. Some screening is done by local customs agencies, some by freight companies, some by airlines and some by airport security operators. Credit:Bloomberg It is unclear whether the government is looking at stationing Australian customs or transport security personnel at overseas transport hubs. While Border Force is concerned with whether an item coming into Australia is prohibited, the OTS regulates security for inbound and outbound planes and ships. They will soon be side by side under the new Department of Home Affairs. Last year 42 million air cargo consignments came into Australia. Credit:Bloomberg Mr Outram said Border Force had been "push[ing] the envelope further out in the supply chain" by gathering as much early data as possible on incoming passengers and packages "rather than physically moving people offshore".
He added: "But certainly we'll have to continuously reconsider and rethink our approach to supply chain security, particularly with OTS and [Border Force] moving into Home Affairs and how we can work together and collaborate and share capability and information and data." The government is working with artificial intelligence and big-data researchers to streamline the movement of people and freight into Australia and detect threats. Transport companies operate according to complex logistics models that shift constantly. Each carrier has different routes on different days depending on the volumes coming from countries and how these are consolidated at international hubs. In theory, everything that goes on an international flight is screened before it is embarked but standards and practices vary around the world. Acting Border Force Commissioner Michael Outram said agencies needed to co-operate to gather information about parcels before they arrived in Australia. Credit:Australian Border Force
Some screening is done by local customs agencies, some by freight companies, some by airlines and some by airport security operators. Customs in Australia cannot check everything the volume is too large. Last year 42 million air cargo consignments came into Australia. The number of inbound people and packages is growing at double-digit percentages each year. "The magnitude of those increases are such that you just cannot deal with them with more officers," Maria Fernandez, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection's head of intelligence, told the recent Informa national security conference. Authorities already use intelligence-based risk assessment to prioritise people and items for scrutiny. The department's Strategic Border Command and the Border Intelligence Fusion Centre crunch and analyse data to produce profiles and alerts. But this would be dramatically increased by investment in cutting-edge machine-learning and big-data analytics, Ms Fernandez told the conference.
The department is working with the CSIRO Data61 innovation centre and Data to Decisions CRC a co-operative research centre involving government and industry on introducing this. The more information they can get, and the earlier, about who and what is bound for Australia, the better they can create risk profiles. But Sanjay Mazumdar, chief executive of Data to Decisions CRC, said the sheer volume of data from a wide range of sources not all of it nicely structured such as cargo consignment spreadsheets meant authorities risked "drowning in data", a challenge faced by all security agencies today. "The scale is growing too rapidly. Manually trying to do it is impossible, and so what they're looking for is more sophisticated techniques really to filter down all that data and present the investigator or the customs officer with 1 or 2 per cent of risky cases rather than the 98 per cent of clean cases." The kind of data that is useful obviously includes things like the place of origin of the package and any sender and addressee details. But it can include all sorts of other anomalies, including "dwell time in ports, inconsistencies in routing and other information taken from consignment documents", according to Warren Bradey of the CSIRO's Data61.
"For example, data analytics could quickly learn if a container has been held in a port for an unusual length of time," he said. "Packages have a great deal of data associated with them beyond just the sender and receiver note. Machine learning finds patterns between the enormous amount of data associated with a package and 'unusual' events." Mr Outram said all of this was compared with or "washed against" in security jargon intelligence information. "If we get an early heads-up from the intelligence agencies around the world, including our own here in Australia [that] ISIL or a criminal group are adopting a new method or are intending to do something different or new we can adapt our practices and processes and profiles and alerts, to be on the lookout for it without grinding the border to a halt." In the case of people, who have unique biometric data such as faces, the next generation of immigration "smart gates" at airports would allow people to walk through without stopping, Ms Fernandez said.
"By the time someone gets off the plane, with face-on-the-move technology, which our new-generation gates will allow, the gate can be open and someone can walk up to the gate and just with their face, the gate will be able to go 'I know you. I've got your passport information and just with your face as your passport, we know who you are. You hit no alerts. You've hit no profiles. You've hit no predictive models.' "The gate will remain open and you will just walk through a seamless, open border. Only if you hit on something will the gate close." As well as crunching much more data quickly, learning computers can also find patterns or anomalies that a human wouldn't have thought to look for. "Human-designed rules are based totally on the past experience of the agency in having seen the origin and pattern of where suspicious items come from," Mr Bradey said. "Whilst that is an invaluable source of information, it does not allow real-time learning of emerging trends or anomalous activity detection for new occurrences." Dr Mazumdar said computers were good at "picking up things that might not necessarily be perceptible to the human".
"That one pattern that might be in the noise a computer if trained well enough may be able to pick that up and present that to the analyst. "You might actually surface up stuff they wouldn't necessarily find because they haven't correlated seemingly uncorrelatable data." That may mean drawing in disparate "pattern of life" data, he said. As an example in immigration, a person who repeatedly enters the country with several female passengers and then leaves the country alone may be engaging in sex-trafficking. "Training the computers to look for those patterns amongst the data available to them is something a computer can do that a human can't do at scale," Dr Mazumdar said. Jacinta Carroll, a former security official now with the Australian National University, said understanding where the risks were allowed authorities to shift resources around as the threat landscape changed.
The Turnbull government has developed detailed plans to manage the return of as many as 70 children of Australian foreign fighters who may come home from the Middle East as the Islamic State's so-called Caliphate crumbles.
Justice Minister Michael Keenan told Fairfax Media the plan prioritises security but also looks at counselling, education and welfare and is being done "hand-in-hand" with the states, who would case-manage each child.
Justice Minister Michael Keenan says government is aware of about 70 children who had either travelled with their Australian parents or have been born to Australian parents active in the conflict in Syria or Iraq. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
His remarks come amid what experts say is an exodus from the so-called Islamic State's defacto capital of al-Raqqa in Syria as it is squeezed by a US-backed collection of local Kurdish and Arab opposition fighters.
Mr Keenan said the government was aware of about 70 children who had either travelled with their Australian parents or have been born to Australian parents active in the conflict in Syria or Iraq.
Australia has large untapped pool of potential deceased organ donors that could save the lives of hundreds of patients waiting on transplant lists, suggests a new study published Monday in the Medical Journal of Australia. Less than 2 per cent of Australians die in a way that allows them to donate their organ. Most deceased organ donors come from brain-dead patients, but the number of donations after circulatory death (DCD) has been growing. In 2016 DCD made up one-quarter of all deceased organ donors. The researchers analysed DonateLife data of patients who died in an intensive care unit or emergency department across the 75 Australian hospitals between July 2012 and December 2014. They identified DCD patients whose organs were donated, those who would have been ideal DCD donors but did not have their organs donated, and patients who met a set of expanded criteria to become DCD donors but did not become donors.
Of 8780 DCD patients, organ donation was not discussed with the families of 61 per cent of ideal potential donors (193 patients) and 72 per cent of those expanded criteria cases (313 patients). "That's potentially another 416 kidney transplants, 117 lungs, 41 livers and seven potential heart transplant recipients," senior author and intensive care specialist at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne Professor David Pilcher said. If 60 per cent of these families had consented to organ donation Australia's donation rate would have jumped from 16.1 per million population in 2014 to 21.3 per million population, the researchers reported. Surgeon Amanda Robertson works on a donor kidney at Melbourne Private Hospital. The lost pool of patients could have meant 416 kidney transplants. Credit:The Age "We know these patients are out there, and we know that finding this potential pool of donors will impact the lives of organ recipients," Professor Pilcher said.
They were typically older, dying of non-neurological conditions and were more likely to have chronic diseases compared to actual donors. "Historically many of them wouldn't have been considered for organ donation," professor Pilcher said. Their conditions may have prevented some of their organs being healthy enough to donate, but they could perhaps donate one or two, Professor Pilcher said. "They may have terrible lung disease but could donate kidneys," he said. The study's expanded criteria also lifted the age of potential donors, lengthened the time-to-death after patients were taken off cardio-respiratory support, and relaxed some exclusions like smoking history and renal risk factors.
"There has been an assumption that people who have chronic conditions or certain lifestyle choices can't be organ donors, but often they can and should be considered," Professor Pilcher said. "Some people who were smokers don't have lung disease and in theory someone who was a drinker could become a liver donor. "It just increases the level of complexity when it comes to assessing their suitability to make sure there is not damage or disease to that organ," he said. A donor heart re-animated and beating in the ex vivo perfusion rig, after circulatory death. Increasing the pool of potential DCD patients could mean more hearts available for transplant. Credit:St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney There was no standardised DCD suitability criteria, and it was hard to predict when patients would die after being taken off life support, which could be stopping many doctors from considering them for organ donation, the study authors said.
They recommended assessing all end-of-life patients in intensive care units for organ donation. "We'd like to see a situation where considering a person for organ donation becomes a routine part of end of life care [in ICUs]," Professor Pilcher said. "It doesn't change the way we treat a patient or whether a person would be taken off cardio-respiratory support ... it changes the timing of that conversation," he said. Circulatory deaths fit with what most Australians understand death to be, Dr Sam Radford, the Organ and Tissue Authority's deputy state director of DonateLife in Victoria, said. "The heart stops, breathing stops and blood-flow to all parts of the brain and body stop," he said.
DCD also encompassed a wider ranges of conditions than brain-dead donors, including stroke, spinal cord injuries, liver disease, heart attack, and fatal infections. A number of hospital ICUs have already adopted routinely considering organ donation referrals for patients nearing death, and Australia is now ranked sixth in the world for the number of DCD per million population. Dr Radford said clinicians were increasingly recognising DCD donors, and acknowledging that outcomes for patients who received DCD organs were good. "We've got a responsibility to transplant recipients to explore all opportunities so they have the best chance at a good outcome," he said. 1400 Australians and their families are at any one time waiting for a transplant.
Reducing Australia's per-capita alcohol consumption by just one litre a year would drive a significant reduction in head, neck and liver cancer deaths.
That's the conclusion of a new study that offers the first suggestive evidence that a decrease in Australia's population-level drinking - as opposed to individual-level - would reduce the prevalence of cancer deaths particularly among men and over 50s.
The report from the Centre for Alcohol Policy Research (CAPR) and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) examined the effect of a reduction in population drinking across different genders and age groups between 1968 and 2011.
The study found that across a 20-year period, a one litre decrease in annual alcohol consumption per capita was associated with reductions in head and neck cancer mortality of 11.6 per cent in men and 7.3 per cent in women.
Thousands of same-sex marriage supporters have door-knocked around the country, encouraging Australians to post their votes.
Teams of volunteers hit the streets of Leichhardt, in Sydney's inner west, on Sunday in what the Equality Campaign says is the county's largest door-knocking event.
Equality Campaign executive director Tiernan Brady says that, In the past 15 years, support for same-sex marriage has more than doubled. Credit:Louie Douvis
"This is incredibly important for people, this is about their lives and their dignity and we have a duty as a campaign to do everything in our power to win this on their behalf," Equality Campaign executive director Tiernan Brady said on Sunday.
In the past 15 years, support for same-sex marriage has more than doubled from 30 per cent to 65 per cent, he said.
Most days that the Lady Herron ferry passes the Sydney Opera House en route to its signature destination - Taronga Park Zoo - the ferry driver toots the horn. Regulars on the ferry service joke the driver is saying hello to the Opera House CEO Louise Herron, whose great aunt was the Governor's wife for whom the ferry is named.
But that sight and sound of Sydney Harbour may soon be no more as the last two Lady class ferries the Ladies Herron and Northcott Sydney's oldest, are due to be decommissioned. Another of Lady Andree Herron's descendants, her nephew Henry, has joined the fight which at last count is over 2000 voices strong to keep the single-hulled double-ended ferries on their iconic routes.
The Lady Northcott Ferry at Taronga Zoo Wharf. Credit:James Alcock
"We always proudly show our offspring the Lady Herron as she glides past and tell them stories about our 'aunty Bob' as we called her," Henry Herron recalled. He joined a group which gathered on Sunday at Nutcote, author and illustrator May Gibb's harbourside home, which also was due for demolition in the 1980s, until many in the same fight to save the ferries, also fought to save the historic house.
Annie Herron, who commissioned artist Peter Kingston to paint the Lady Herron for her husband Henry's 60th birthday, says Sydneysiders need to mobilise to keep this part of "old Sydney" operating. "It would be a shame if we let them go," she said.
Six shots have been fired into a house in Brisbane's south during a late-night drive-by shooting.
Police said security camera footage showed a car, believed to be a dark coloured Holden Commodore, drive past a Duncombe Street residence in Durack about 11pm.
Police are searching for the occupants of a Holden Commodore after a drive-by shooting in Durack. Credit:Queensland Police Service
The shots were then fired by a passenger, with bullets hitting the fence, gate and punching through the front door of the house.
Four adults inside the home, who were not believed to be known to police, were unharmed.
The Crime and Corruption Commission noted Project Synergy exposed the QPS to a significant fraud risk and was not transparent.
Brian Hay, the former head of the Queensland Police Service Fraud and Cyber Crime Group.
Former fraud squad head Brian Hay went on a year-long career break in 2015 but never returned to the service following a December 2016 report by the states corruption watchdog criticising a program he was responsible for.
A controversial fraud squad fundraiser remains under police investigation months after its former boss left the service.
But it failed to find any evidence of criminal conduct by three fraud squad officers subjected to complaints about a controversial fundraising project, or any other officer involved.
The allegations had included misuse of funds and QPS resources, misuse of corporate credit cards and inappropriate travel practices.
In an August 2016 media statement, the CCC said while it did not identify any criminal conduct by officers involved in Project Synergy, there were sufficient grounds for disciplinary action against one officer.
It identified a failure to comply with financial management practices and policies.
Fairfax Media has confirmed that officer was Mr Hay, who officially left the QPS in April.
Apple launch of the iPhone 8 kicked off with less fanfare than new models in previous years in the United States, Asia, Australia and Britain, as fans held out for the premium iPhone X, due out in early November.
In San Francisco's Union Square, 80 kilometres from Apple's Cupertino headquarters, just 80 people were lined up at the company's flagship store, a sharp contrast to years past when lines stretched for blocks when new products were released.
In Australia, hundreds of people usually gather at Apple's Sydney city store, with queues winding down George Street in the CBD. But there were fewer than 30 people lining up before the store opened on Friday.
Apple's flagship store in London's Regent Street also experienced a slim turnout.
Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani's son Naseem Geelani, Yaseen Khan of Kashmir Traders and Marketing Federation and some others have been summoned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to Delhi on Monday.
By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani's son Naseem Geelani, Yaseen Khan of Kashmir Traders and Marketing Federation and some others have been summoned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to Delhi on Monday.
According to sources, NIA has also summoned Shah Wali Mohammad of Sopore district and Abdul Hameed Magrey.
However, Naseem Geelani has sought more time for appearing before the NIA citing father Syed Ali Shah Geelani's ill health.
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Meanwhile, Kashmir Bar Association president Mian Abdul Qayoom is also likely to be summoned in the coming week. He has already been questioned thrice. A top source says he was Qayoom who was questioned on alleged hawala money and property which he forthrightly denied.
Though, Qayoom, who is a practicing lawyer, admitted to investigators about close links to Hurriyat, including founding separatist foundation. He allegedly also confessed he did not believe in Indian constitution.
A source said while businessman Zahoor Watali left lot of physical and technical trail in terror funding case, Qayoom has been a hard cookie to crack.
"Qayoom presented some papers as income tax proof which are being examined by sleuths. But, he has been smart enough to cover his trail. His support to the movement has been moral and legal. We are looking for a financial link as well," said the official.
While another top source said, "Prima-facie the documents show that Qayoom has filed income tax, but it appears be less than his known source of income. But, that alone may not make case till a direct connect is made in terror funding."
The agency, meanwhile, says it is digging deeper into the terror funding case.
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Just when you thought it was safe to bare your pale legs, winter has returned with a vengeance.
Saturday's sultry top of 30.6 degrees in the city was swiftly followed by cold winds and a forecast temperature of just 18 degrees on Sunday.
Blustery conditions have brought cooler weather after Saturday's brief taste of summer.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Rod Dixon said Saturday's hot weather was unusual for this time of year and unlikely to be repeated any time soon.
"It hasn't been this warm this early in September before," he said.
Three PSOs were involved in the incident.
Three PSOs have allegedly been assaulted outside Flinders Street Station. Credit:John Woudstra
Police have charged three people with assault over the incident, which allegedly occurred outside the station just after 1.30am on Sunday.
A Protective Services Officer has allegedly been bitten in an early morning attack outside Flinders Street Station.
Two of the officers were taken to hospital with injuries; one suffering a leg injury and another with a bite injury. The third was treated for facial injuries at the scene.
Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said a man in his 40s was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital with leg injuries.
He was released from hospital on Sunday afternoon.
Police spokeswoman Natalie Webster said a 19-year-old Blackburn man, 20-year-old Mooroolbark man and 18-year-old Blackburn woman had all been charged with assault PSO and resist PSO.
All three were bailed to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on January 22 next year.
The Victorian Coalition has shaken up its frontbench as it prepares to fight the 2018 election, with population growth and cost of living pressures shaping up as major Opposition campaign themes.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has taken on the population shadow ministry while Nationals Leader Peter Walsh gained decentralisation.
Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy (right) and state Nationals leader Peter Walsh announce a new shadow ministry line-up. Credit:Scott McNaughton
Mr Guy said the reshuffle meant the "right changes" had been made in the lead-up to the November 2018 poll.
"We've sharpened our focus particularly around population and decentralisation, taking the pressure off Melbourne and ensuring that all of Victoria can grow sustainably," he said.
A late run of rainy weather across the city has kept big crowds away from opening day of the Perth Royal Show and forced a beer festival to cancel the last two days of its long weekend event at Elizabeth Quay.
Thousands of foodies were expected to soak up the atmosphere of the WA Beer & Beef Festival on Sunday but organisers were forced to abandon the event, just 24 hours after its opening day.
Thousands were expected at the beer event at Elizabeth Quay. Credit:Matthew Tompsett
The festival said the remainder of the long weekend's events planned for Sunday and Monday would be held next weekend instead.
"Regretfully we are cancelling the festival for Sunday 24th and Monday 25th September," a spokesperson said.
Berlin: In a country that kept the far-right restricted to the political sidelines for more than half a century, the rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) marked a watershed moment on Sunday, according to first projections which showed the party winning more than 13 per cent of the vote.
The AfD won't be in a position to drive a legislative agenda, but Sunday's vote will likely provide it with something the far-right had so far always been denied: parliamentary legitimacy on a national level.
"Once a party gains access to parliament, chances become much lower that it will simply disappear again," said Tarik Abou-Chadi, a comparative politics researcher at Humboldt University in Berlin. "The election could remove the social stigma which has hampered other far-right parties in the past."
With seats in the Bundestag, the AfD will now be eligible to receive more taxpayer funding. As the only anti-immigration party in a mostly consensus-based national parliament, the AfD can also hope to further sharpen its profile as an alternative to Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Brussels/Berlin: Jewish groups in Europe and the United States expressed alarm on Sunday at the far-right Alternative for Germany's success in Germany's parliamentary election and urged other parties not to form an alliance with the AfD.
Early projections gave the AfD 13.5 percent of the vote, allowing it to enter the Bundestag for the first time, as Germany's third-biggest party.
A woman at the election party of Germany''s Social Democrats reacts as she hears firsts results of the parliamentary elections in Berlin. Credit:AP
The far-right has not been represented in parliament since the 1950s, a reflection of Germany's efforts to distance itself from the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust.
Ronald Lauder, president of the New York-based World Jewish Congress, called Chancellor Angela Merkel a "true friend of Israel and the Jewish people" and decried the AfD's gains at a time when anti-Semitism was increasing across the globe.
London: A fifteen-year-old boy has been arrested after six people were injured when a noxious substance was thrown during an incident at an east London shopping mall.
Three of the victims needed hospital treatment after they were hit with the substance during an "altercation" between two groups of males at the Stratford Centre.
Emergency services personnel at Stratford Centre after the suspected acid attack. Credit:AP
Horrified onlookers reported scenes of panic in the aftermath of the incident which was first feared to be a series of random attacks.
One witness described seeing a young male victim screaming in pain as his friends shouted "it is an acid attack, he is burning", while others rushed to wash the substance from their skin.
PHILIPSBURG:--- All members of the school bus association and current owners of school buses providing services to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (MECYS) are hereby invited to a mandatory meeting with MECYS Recovery Team on Tuesday, September 26th, 2017 at the New Government Building on the first floor at 2:00pm. Prior to the meeting, all school bus drivers are required to submit an assessment of the respective fleet of buses to determine the safety and operational status of the fleet. The assessment must be submitted by 2:00 pm on Monday, September 25th, 2017 at the New Government Building, in the Ministry ECYS designated meeting room on the ground floor.
Ministry of ECYS Press Release
ST. JOHNS, Antigua:--- LIAT continued its relief efforts to assist Dominica with a relief flight into the Douglas Charles Airport on Saturday 23rd September.
The relief flight not only brought in supplies to the north of the island but also took in members of the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force and The Antigua and Barbuda Fire Service. It also carried in officials from the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCAA) who were able to do assessments of the airport facilities.
The flight is part of LIATs commitment to assist affected islands in the region and the airline is currently working on a schedule to aid in delivering relief supplies as well as allows passengers and persons from Dominica to fly out to other destinations. LIAT has been working along with several organizations to assist in the relief efforts to islands affected by Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
LIAT Press Release
By Srijani Ganguly/Mail Today: The mind of a serial killer is a twisted place. The lives he takes don't matter much to him, it's all about what roles their deaths play in his scheme of things.
Such is undoubtedly the thinking of the antagonist in Arnab Ray's The Mahabharata Murders (Juggernaut Rs 350). He considers himself to be the reincarnation of Duryodhana from the Mahabharata, choosing victims according to the characteristics he believes they share with characters from the famous epic.
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Like the serial killer, the author too considers the Mahabharata to be the perfect muse. "The Mahabharata," Ray says, "draws fuzzy lines between right and wrong and, every time you read it, you seem to get a different story, different heroes and different villains. It's exactly the place a serial killer might want to anchor his moral compass." For Ray himself, the place that proved to be an anchor for 'serial killer' books was Kolkata. He says, "Growing up in Kolkata, I had a lot of 'serial killer' books procured cheap at the Kolkata book fair, from those written by FBI profilers to truecrime paperbacks.
Judge my understanding the darker aspects of the human psyche, few punched above Agatha Christie, even though it must be said that her writing hasn't aged particularly well." Although Ray seems fascinated by the darker side of the human psyche, his past books haven't all been written in the same mould. The author, who is known as 'Greatbong' in the blogging world, has also written about super-secret mining facilities (The Mine) and choices in the afterlife (Yatrik), amongst other topics. "Since I read in different genres," Ray explains, "and I want to write what I like to read, all my books so far have had very different themes. For my next two, I will however be retreating to familiar ground - Sultan of Delhi Resurrection will be the concluding part of my two-book 'Sultan of Delhi' crime saga, and Shakchunni will be a classic horror story set in a 1930s Bengali zamindar family.
--- ENDS ---
Shacuria L. Nicholoson, who was 20 at the time, pleaded last week to driving with a suspended license causing death and driving with a suspended license causing serious injury for the death of Lorena Washington, 43, and injury of a 61-year-old man.
The encounter took place after the Army and police started searches in Kalgai area this morning following inputs about movement of terrorists.
By Press Trust of India: Security forces today killed three militants in an encounter in Kashmir's Uri, thus thwarting plans of the terrorists to carry out an attack like the one on an Army base in the same area last year, officials said.
The encounter took place after the Army and police started searches in Kalgai area this morning following inputs about movement of terrorists.
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"A cordon was laid and search operation was started in Kalgai area of Uri this morning following information about presence of militants in the area," an Army official said.
He said the search operation turned into an encounter after the militants opened fire on the security forces.
"Three militants have been killed in the operation while one soldier has sustained injures," the official said, adding three civilians were also injured in the gunbattle.
Director General of Police S P Vaid said the militants were planning a "suicide" attack like the one carried out on an Army base in Uri last year that left 19 soldiers dead and several others injured.
"A big tragedy has been averted. Like the suicide attack on the Army base last year, they (militants) had similar plans this time, but the police and the Army got the information before hand. A joint operation is going on to neutralise the ultras," he said on the sidelines of an event here.
On September 18 last year, four militants stormed Army brigade headquarters in Uri, close to the Line of Control, killing 19 soldiers before being neutralised.
--- ENDS ---
Fifth. The Free Democrats are back, but Christian Lindner would probably rather have been head of the opposition in the Bundestag than one of two junior partners under Merkel. The last time the FDP joined a governing coalition with Merkel -- between 2009 and 2013 -- its domination by the CDU cost the Free Democrats representation in several state legislatures and it took them four years to recover.
Sixth. The Left Party has remained stable, but it still has zero prospects of becoming part of a governing coalition. And with the right-wing populists now a significant force on the opposition benches, the Left has lost its claim to being the primary representative of German protest voters. That is especially true in eastern Germany, where the Left has traditionally done well. This time around it is the AfD celebrating its greatest success in the states that belonged to the former East Germany.
After polls closed on Sunday, Schulz ruled out a continuation of the grand coalition and said it was a "bitter day" for Social Democrats in Germany. He also said that he would like to continue on as head of the party and lead the SPD into opposition in the Bundestag. Regarding the AfD's result, he said: "It is a turning point and no democrat can simply ignore it."
Merkel, meanwhile, was having to contend with a relatively poor showing of her own. Her conservatives have managed around 33 percent of the vote, a far cry from the 41.5 percent they received four years ago. "Of course we had been hoping for a better result," she said to cheering supporters on Sunday evening. But, she added, "we have a mandate from the voters to build the next government.
The following articles and headlines appeared in the Stamford Advocate decades ago on Sept. 25.
10 years ago
Dramatic dreams: Students make a play for High School Musical
Jamie Dolce attended her audition in character sequins on her pink shrug and flip-flops helped the 12-year-old channel the glamorous, if mean, spirit of the role she hoped to play in Stamfords first all-school musical.
Jamie wanted to be cast as Sharpay, the scheming diva in High School Musical, a Disney production that has become something of a sensation among middle-school children.
She wanted to feel the role, said her mother, Lori Dolce, who went with her daughter for the first day of auditions for fifth- through ninth-graders at Rippowam Middle School. The two snapped their fingers in time to the music as they waited for Jamies turn to sing.
20 years ago
New office tower for downtown
Stamfords revitalized office market has inspired the third developer in a year to propose a massive office tower for downtown.
Louis Dreyfus Property Group said it plans to build a 22-story, 500,000-square-foot office tower on Richmond Hill Avenue near the Stamford Transportation Center and Interstate 95.
Louis Dreyfus doesnt have a major tenant lined up but believes the office market is robust enough to fill the structure, said Jeffrey Sussman, president of the Stamford firm.
30 years ago
Plan ordered to maintain city beaches
City officials have demanded that Parks Superintendent Robert Book immediately formulate a preventive maintenance program to improve what they called Stamfords deteriorating beaches and parks.
City Rep. James Dudley, D-6, and Parks Commission Chairman William Cahill pointedly criticized Cook about the condition of Stamfords beaches and parks at the meetings of the Board of Representatives Parks and Recreation Committee.
Cook, his voice quivering with anger, rose and turned to leave the meeting.
I object to this, Cook then said, turning to Cahill. This is not the forum for accusations.
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University of Connecticut President Susan Herbst has warned that the Legislatures budget would be devastating, and might cause UConn to close some of its regional campuses.
On Saturday, two UConn students considered that prospect as they studied near a Stamford campus cafe.
Keren Chen and Kailin Zheng came to the U.S. for master of science degrees in risk management, and said the program in which they are enrolled is offered only at UConns Stamford and Hartford campuses.
That makes me nervous, Zheng said.
We came here to the United States about one month ago to complete this program, which takes 15 to 19 months to finish, Chen said. What will we do if this campus is shut down while were studying the program?
UConn was recently ranked the 18th top public university by U.S. News & World Report. But Herbst said the university could not maintain its offerings if the Legislatures budget were to take effect.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has pledged to veto the budget.
In an email message, Herbst said cuts in the budget lawmakers approved on Sept. 16 could force UConn to make some closures. The university has regional campuses in Stamford, Hartford, Waterbury and Avery Point, as well as its main campus in Storrs, a law school in Hartford and UConn Health in Farmington.
State budget cuts, Herbst said, would reduce UConn funding by roughly $309 million over two years, $185 million of which would be cut directly from the university and its campuses. She said $124 million would be cut from UConn Health.
Zheng said she remembered the presidents email, which she said the entire student body received. However, she said, she didnt initially grasp its seriousness.
At first I didnt even really read the whole thing, Zheng said.
Chen said she breezed through the email at first, but went back to it later.
What if its our major, what were studying? she said.
Zheng and Chen said another big concern is whether their tuition would go up.
For the 2017-18 academic year, UConn tuition for graduate programs at regional campuses is $13,553 for nine or more credits. The two women said they do not receive scholarships or financial aid.
We pay for ourselves, for our tuition. If tuition goes up Chen trailed off, shaking her head.
But Chen and Zheng said they would remain at the Stamford campus as long as it is not shut down even with a tuition increase.
Were going to stay here, Zheng said. We are going to finish our program and get our M.S. degree.
By Rajat Rai: The Supreme Court's ban on triple talaq has seemingly come as a shot in the arm for Muslim women in India and many of them, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, have started raising their voices against the evil practice. An SC bench last month ruled with a 3-2 majority that the practice of instant divorce in Islam was unconstitutional. The decision marked a historic victory for Muslim women who have spent decades arguing that the custom violated their right to equality. The court banned instant triple talaq for six months and asked the government to frame new legislation to replace the abolished practice the sharia law custom allowed men to end a marriage simply by saying "talaq" or divorce to their wives, three times in succession.
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The first signs of "rebellion" were visible in Meerut district barely 24 hours after the verdict as 23-year-old Arshi Nida came forward to say that her husband, Siraj Khan, who owns a school, had been harassing her for dowry since the first day of marriage and had given her instant talaq- the husband was arrested. now, two fresh cases have been reported from western UP.
Basti district
The matter came under media spotlight on Monday, when a woman named Asma Khatoon reached the police to narrate her woes. Khatoon was married to Mohammad Naseen, a native of Barahpur, and they had 10 kids. Khatoon reached the office of deputy superintendent of police Satish Chandra Shukla and gave him a written complaint.
"We had 10 children out of which 7 have died. we had 4 bighas of land, out of which Naseem has already sold 2 bighas. He was insisting on selling the remaining land and was also harassing me physically. on August 27, he sent a piece of paper mentioning triple talaq through my daughter's hand," Khatoon said. The cops were in a dilemma about how to fix the problem. "The SC verdict has come as a relief to Muslim women but constitutional arrangements are yet to be made. According to Section 125 of Criminal Procedure Code (CRPC), a married woman has the right to get maintenance from her husband," Shukla explained.
All possible help would be provided, he added. legal expert Awadhesh Pratap Singh said, "Such matters should be taken to the family court and a capable court should arrange for a hearing. If both the parties disagree an appeal could be made in the upper court." Most Islamic countries, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, had banned triple talaq much before India. Activists say over the years thousands of Muslim women, especially those from disadvantaged sections, have been thrown out by their husbands using the controversial custom.
Many were rendered destitute, with nowhere to go, or forced to return to their parental homes or fend for themselves.
Aligarh district
The second incident came to light in Aligarh district when a father of 10 children gave triple talaq to his wife.
The incident was reported from the Atrauli city with a woman named Sagina Begam as the victim. She married a man identified as Dilshad a few years ago and they had 10 children, of which eight are minors. A few months ago, Dilshad landed in jail and met a man whose name is reportedly Yusuf. While Dilshad got bail a few days ago, Yusuf was still in jail. Dilshad kept meeting him and kept pursuing his case, while he also kept meeting Yusuf's wife and they grew close.
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Sagina objected to this but an understanding was reached after discussions between members of the two families. "Dilshad has agreed to pay maintenance of Rs 20,000 per month and has also given the house to her in which she lives. The agreement was reached on a notary of Rs 100 stamp paper in presence of the lawyers of both the parties in the local court," station house officer of Atrauli, UC Patel, informed.
No police case was registered, he added.
--- ENDS ---
In an acrimonious attack on India, Pakistan's permanent representative to UN Maleeha Lodhi accused India of State-sponsored crimes in Kashmir at the UNGA.
By India Today Web Desk: After External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday denounced Pakistan as the "world's greatest exporter of havoc, death and inhumanity", in strong rebuttal, Pakistan's permanent representative to UN Maleeha Lodhi accused India of state-sponsored crimes in Kashmir.
"India is the mother of terrorism in South Asia," the Pakistani representative went on to say, adding that Sushma's speech "displays the hostility of Indian leadership against Pakistan".
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Lodhi's comments came at the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly and followed External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj launching a scathing attack on Pakistan for its support for terrorism. Lodi was using Islamabad's right of reply to make her new allegations.
Lodhi stuck to Pakistan's old record of raising Kashmir at international fora and criticised Swaraj for ignoring the 'core issue' of Jammu and Kashmir. She accused India of carrying out a "campaign of brutality... including shooting and blinding of innocent Kashmiri children with pellet guns."
Pakistan calls for international inquiry into India's war crimes in occupied Kashmir pic.twitter.com/QkKVX4LpQU- Pakistan Mission UN (@PakistanUN_NY) September 24, 2017
"Indian cannot hide behind semantics. Any interstate dispute is by definition international dispute. If parties fail to resolve dispute, the UN and the international community not only has the right but the obligation to intervene and help," Lodhi said in an attempt to, once again, internationalise the Kashmir issue.
Echoing Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who in his own UNGA speech demanded a special envoy on Kashmir, Lodhi said, "UN should take steps to investigate India's massive human rights violations in Kashmir, end the impunity enjoyed by India's security forces, lift the draconian laws and punish those responsible for genocide in Kashmir."
Demanding that India not be let off the hook over its 'terror antics' under the garb of national security, Pakistan urged the United Nations to define terrorism and include state terrorism in its list of condemnable exploits.
In stark contrast to Sushma Swaraj's affirmation that Pakistan has spurned every olive branch extended by India under the Narendra Modi government, Maleeha said that it is India that refuses bilateral dialogue with Pakistan - either comprehensive or composite.
TAKES AIM AT MODI, RSS
"This so called democracy is the world's largest hypocrisy," the Pakistani representative continued as she took direct aim at the Narendra Modi-led government in New Delhi.
"India's current political luminaries belong to an organisation that has the blood of thousands of Muslims of Gujarat on their hands," Lodhi said. "India is ruled by a Govt in which a racist and fascist ideology is embedded."
Pakistan's Ambassador to UN told the #UNGA that India, the world's so called largest democracy, is in fact the largest hypocrisy pic.twitter.com/WfE6w4YdHJ- Pakistan Mission UN (@PakistanUN_NY) September 24, 2017
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Lodhi continued targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, saying, "[The current Indian] leadership emanates from RSS. Same extremist group accused of assassinating mahatma Gandhi."
She went on to refer to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath as a "fanatic" and claimed that the Indian govenrment has "allowed lynching of Muslims".
"Pakistan remains open to resuming comprehensive dialogue with India. But this dialogue must be accounted by an end to India's campaign of subversion and state sponsored terrorism in Pakistan," Lodhi ended.
WATCH | Sushma Swaraj responds to Pakistan PM Abbasi, slams Islamabad on terrorism at UNGA
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 24 (PTI) The VHP today attacked former vice-president Hamid Ansari for attending an event organised by the womens wing of Popular Front of India which is under the scanner for alleged links with terror outfits.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad Joint General Secretary Surendra Jain said Ansari stands exposed after attending the programme.
"He was spreading dissatisfaction in the Muslim community even when he was holding the post of Vice President," he said.
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According to reports, Ansari attended an event in Kozhikode organised by the Institute of Objective Studies in association with the National Womens Front, the womens wing of the PFI.
Jain in a statement alleged that the PFI is nothing but a new and extended avatar of banned outfit SIMI.
He also alleged that the PFI is involved in terror activities and the killing of "patriots" in Kerala.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a report to the Union Home Ministry had claimed that the PFI has been involved in terror acts, including running terror camps and making bombs, and it was a fit case to be declared banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The PFI reportedly has presence in 23 states and is strongest in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. PTI JTR DIP
--- ENDS ---
GERING Gary Hashley has pastored at Calvary Memorial Church in Gering for 10 1/2 years. If you cant find him at he church he might be flying high above the community.
Hashley grew up deeply involved in the ministry as a missionary kid in Michigan.
I was born into a ministry family. My parents joined a ministry in Michigan called the Rural Bible Mission when I was a month old, Hashley said. My dads ministry had us constantly moving. I went to five different schools between kindergarten and 12th grade and we lived in 13 different houses.
Because of his parents ministry, Hashley came to faith early in life at the age of seven.
Growing up, Hashley had no intention or interest in becoming a pastor.
When I went to Bible school out of high school I was still 17. I went to the Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and I started training to be a missionary pilot, he said. Thats where my flying began. My idea was to be a pilot, serving missionaries. My own personal goal was Alaska.
Hashley earned his private pilots license and was starting on his commercial and instrument license when God showed him that was not the plan.
Its easy to do, he ran me out of money, because flying has never been cheap, Hashley said, chuckling.
After meeting his wife Rachel in college and then lacking the funding to continue his piloting education, Hashley joined his father in Michigan.
So I joined the ministry. Rachel and I got married 40 years ago and I joined the ministry my folks were with and spent some years in that same childrens ministry still fighting back against being a pastor, Hashley said. That was never what I had in mind. And then, finally in 1981, I got tired of telling God no and finally told him yes and became the pastor of the first church I pastored in Langford, Michigan, in 1982.
Hashley and his family later moved to La Grange, Wyoming, in 1995 so he could teach at Frontier School of the Bible.
During his time at Frontier, Hashley worked as the interim pastor at Calvary Memorial in 1996 and 97.
I always dreamed of coming back some day and here we are, Hashley said smiling.
Hashley took a sabbatical from flying during that time. However, after moving back to Scottsbluff, Hashley and some friends founded the Panhandle Flyers Club.
I was out of flying for 30 years, back when it was feed the children or go fly and groceries took a precedent, Hashley said. Since Ive been back here weve formed a flying club in the area that owns a plane. By being a part of a flying club the expenses are shared to the point where I can afford to fly again.
Hashley expressed his excitement about being part of the Panhandle Flyers.
Its a wonderful thing because we have a daughter and her husband and five kids in Laramie so its quicker to get to Laramie to see grandchildren, Hashley said. So we use it a lot to go see the kids and the grandchildren.
Hashley talked about his favorite thing about flying.
I guess I never tire at looking down at the wonder of Gods earth he created from any altitude, Hashley said. To see the mountains, to see the valleys and the rivers out here and the reservoirs, its just astounding. I just love looking down on Gods beautiful earth.
As a child, Hashley had a fascination with planes.
I went up with a pastor friend of my dads who was giving away airplane rides as Vacation Bible School prizes, Hashley said. As the missionarys son I got to go along when they went to the airport and there was room to give me a ride. I must have been in fifth grade and Ive been in love with airplanes ever since.
Hashley also talked about the people who influenced him in the ministry.
My dad and his devotion to ministry, like I say I was a month old when he joined the mission, he said. My dad and mom were missionaries my whole life. In Michigan, not in Africa or South America, but their devotion and willingness to serve God even when the pay was small just was really a great role model.
Along with his dad, Hashleys pastor was also very influential.
My pastor in my high school years was named Paul Deal. Paul Deal was such an influence in my life, Hashley said. He was not only my pastor, he was my friend and when I became a pastor he became my mentor. I would call him with questions and doubts and frustrations and he was always there to help me.
While talking about the struggles and joys of pastoring, Hashley mentioned his favorite part.
People, he said without hesitation. I just love people. And in helping people and teaching Gods word, it gives me the opportunity to serve them, encourage them, support them and get close to them. Ive heard a pastor say Id love to pastor if it wasnt for the people. I thought he wouldnt be a pastor if it wasnt for the people.
Hashley said if he could go back in time to give advice to his younger self, hed say dont fight what God wants.
I probably would tell myself to not fight God about being a pastor, he said. Because I had a lot of reasons in my head why I didnt want to be a pastor and now looking back on 35 years of being a pastor and I wouldnt want to do anything else.
A white University of Kentucky student accused of physically assaulting a Black student worker while repeatedly using racial slurs says she will withdraw from the school. The decision announced Tuesday by a lawyer for 22-year-old Sophia Rosing came after hundreds of students rallied on campus the night before. News outlets report the students called for unity and for the university to quickly address the situation. Officials say Rosing has been charged with assault, public intoxication and disorderly conduct. She pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Monday afternoon. The altercation at Boyd Hall was captured on video and posted to multiple social media platforms.
Bilateral military cooperation, joint drills and exchanges of experience, both at bilateral and Alliance level, were some of the topics discussed by the Romanian Chief of the General Staff, General Nicolae Ciuca, with his Canadian counterpart, General Jonathan Vance.
According to a MApN release on Sunday remitted to STIRIPESURSE, discussions between the two officials also focused on the Canadian troops's presence in Romania, as part of the Ottawa authorities' contribution to the implementation of decisions adopted at the NATO Summit in Warsaw, through ensuring a discouragement and defence position on the Eastern flank of the Alliance."General Ciuca thanked his Canadian counterpart for the deployment of CF-18 Hornet aircraft on the Romanian territory for the execution of the air police missions alongside their Romanian colleagues, as well as for the presence of Canadian troops in the multinational commandments on Romanian territory."The Romanian official also attended the conference of heads of defence of nations participating in the Invictus Games Toronto 2017.The main issue tackled at this meeting was related to those troops who got wounded, invalid or psychically injured after participating in either internal military missions or missions in the operation theaters, and support for their families.The Chief of General Staff attended the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games Toronto 2017 alongside the Minister of National Defence, Mihai Fifor
Social Democratic Party (PSD) Chairman Liviu Dragnea announced on Facebook on Saturday that he had a telephone conversation with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban about the situation at the Catholic High School of Targu Mures and assured the latter that the problem "will be solved."
"We agreed on two things, we'll solve the problem at the Catholic High School of Targu Mures and Hungary will grant again support for Romania for the accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. I explained that the situation of Targu Mures came up following a court ruling and doesn't represent an attack against the Catholic Church or the Hungarian minority, but it is the obligation of the Romanian authorities to find a legal and sustainable solution. I promised him we would find this solution," Dragnea wrote.The PSD Chairman added that PM Orban appreciated the availability for dialogue and "promised that Hungary will resume supporting Romania for the OECD."Romania's accession to this organisation is a "major" goal of Romania's foreign policy, which could be reached even this year, Dragnea added.
David Nicklaus David Nicklaus is a business columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow David Nicklaus Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today
Even in the sometimes illogical world of trade law, Boeings complaint against Canadas Bombardier is quirky.
Boeing is complaining about sales that havent occurred yet, of a plane that doesnt compete with its own models. And yet experts say it has a pretty strong case.
We should know more Monday, when the U.S. Commerce Department is expected to make a preliminary ruling on the anti-subsidy part of Boeings complaint. Boeing also accuses Bombardier of dumping, or selling its C-Series plane for less than the cost of production.
By the time the case wraps up early next year, the U.S. could impose punitive duties that more than double the planes price. That might make Delta Air Lines, which has ordered 75 Bombardier CS100s with deliveries beginning next spring, rethink its commitment to the aircraft.
A victory on the trade complaint may come at a high price. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that unless Boeing withdraws the case, he wont move forward with a $5.2 billion purchase of 18 F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters, which are made in St. Louis County.
Thats a big chunk of defense revenue risk over a commercial order that Boeing didnt even compete for. Delta wanted a 100- to 110-seat plane, and the smallest version of Boeings 737 seats 138.
U.S. law allows Boeing to claim potential future damage, though, and the company argues that the stakes are high. It doesnt want a subsidized competitor gaining a toehold and then going on to sell larger planes that would compete with the 737.
Fixing a problem for Boeings airliner business may create one for its military salespeople. Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst at Teal Group in Fairfax, Va., says Canada is also interested in buying P-8 Poseidon surveillance planes and CH-47 Chinook helicopters.
British Prime Minister Theresa May joined Trudeau in criticizing the trade complaint, because Bombardier makes wings for the C-series at a plant in Northern Ireland. Britain doesnt have any big aircraft orders pending, but its been a good customer for Boeing hardware over the years.
The economic value of Canadian and possible UK defense contracts dwarfs any possible damage from the C-series, Aboulafia said.
Ken Herbert, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity, assumes that Boeing has weighed the costs and benefits. The F/A-18 is an incredibly important product line, and Canada is one of the larger opportunities for it, he said. Clearly, Boeing has made its calculation and is willing to take a risk to establish some rules of engagement on the commercial side.
Boeing has a strong complaint on subsidies the Quebec provincial government invested $1 billion in the C-series when Bombardier was on the brink of bankruptcy but anti-dumping determinations are more technical.
Dan Ikenson, a trade expert at the Cato Institute, says the Commerce Department typically reviews a years worth of sales to determine if dumping has occurred. Bombardier wont have any sales until it delivers the first plane to Delta.
Another issue is determining production cost. Boeing and the Commerce Department know that in a high-fixed-cost environment, the first aircraft they make is going to cost 50 to 75 percent more than the 75th unit, Ikenson said. If they just ask for cost data on the first three or four planes, those costs are going to be enormous, and the price is going to be below cost.
President Donald Trump takes a tough stance on trade and is already tangling with Canada over lumber and dairy products, so his administration is likely to side with Boeing. The question is whether Boeing can afford the cost of victory.
It isnt just your imagination: Activist hedge funds do go after companies led by woman CEOs more often.
Thats a fact, borne out by new research. But the underlying causes are less clear, although female CEOs look as if perhaps they do a better job representing their investors in activist campaigns.
Also true: Female CEOs whose companies are targeted by activist hedge funds do worse themselves out of the deal. They lose more in total compensation and are more likely to be replaced than their male peers, found Bill Francis and Qiang Wu of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Yinjie Shen of Cleveland State University.
Activist hedge funds, which take stakes in companies and then push them to adopt new strategies or even new management, have become a massive force in financial markets, controlling more than $120 billion and launching two-thirds more major campaigns against companies with large market caps in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year.
A notable number of activists have taken after female-led companies, such as Carl Icahns 2015 stake in then-CEO Ursula Burns Xerox or Nelson Peltzs run at Indra Nooyis PepsiCo.
The data backs up the impression formed by anecdote.
Using a comprehensive dataset, we first confirm that activist hedge funds indeed regard female CEOs as preferred targets, the studys authors write.
In a given year, a female CEO has a 5.7 percent chance of her companys being targeted by activists, 54 percent higher than the 3.7 percent incidence for male CEOs, the data show. The study, which covered 2003 to 2014, examined more than 2000 hedge fund activist events.
As of now, just over 5.2 percent of Fortune 500 company CEOs are woman.
The raw numbers actually understate the extent to which female CEOs face activist campaigns. An exercise matching female CEOs to male ones with similar work and company characteristics found they were actually 78 percent more likely to face an activist campaign on an apples-to-apples comparison.
Note that 99 percent of activist hedge fund managers are men. A 2016 story in Fortune Magazine identified Dianne McKeever of Ides Capital as the only female running an activist shop.
The glass cliff?
One often-suggested theory is that female CEOs are more likely to be stuck with the kinds of companies that attract activist hedge funds; those undergoing a difficult executive transition, either due to change in the marketplace or at the specific company. This idea is sometimes called the glass cliff an echo of the glass ceiling that is said to block female C-suite advancement.
To look at this, the study examined firms that have had a male-to-female CEO transition, compared with male-to-male ones, further matching by firm characteristics. Even doing this and controlling for firm characteristics, woman CEOs were still more likely to find themselves in activists crosshairs.
One thing the study did find was that firms led by women showed a larger increase in operational performance and a bigger short-term stock market boost when news of the activist campaign breaks. The authors say this discounts pure gender discrimination by hedge fund managers.
Perhaps, but it certainly doesnt discount bias by the investors buying and selling shares in the woman-led companies involved.
What does seem to be true is that female CEOs take a more constructive and mature (and less self-dealing) approach to activist negotiations. This point is very much in their favor as stewards of capital, but perhaps makes them more attractive targets for outsiders.
We find that, instead of maintaining a defensive posture, female CEOs are more likely to communicate and cooperate with activist hedge funds. Specifically, when hedge fund activists target female CEOs, they are less likely to resort to hostile tactics, are more likely to obtain board seats, seek reimbursement, use letters to communicate with managers, settle before proxy fights, and, ultimately, are more likely to be successful at achieving all or part of their goals, according to the study.
Female CEOs also hold more board meetings and are less prone to adopt poison pill tactics to foil outside activists.
That all sounds like good management, at least to me.
Remember, activists very often have clever ideas for improving share price performance, though their record of creating lasting value is less clear. While activists can have good or bad ideas, what they almost always represent is a possible threat to the personal fortunes of the CEOs involved.
Female CEOs do worse, personally, out of activist events than their male peers, suffering larger cuts in pay, facing more pay-for-performance targets and getting shown the door more often. All of this makes the low number of female CEOs look not just unfair, but bad news for the investors those executives serve.
Laura Kerben had chosen the wooden casket, the cemetery plot and all the details required for her fathers funeral in Orlando, Fla. The one item that remained a mystery was the price.
Kerben asked the funeral home representative the cost. I asked several times, she said. I said, How much will it be? And he said, Ill take care of it.
The day before the funeral in 2007, with family already in town, Kerben received a bill for $16,735. Thats more than double the 2006 median cost of $6,195 for a viewing and burial, the closest year for which data are available from the National Funeral Directors Association. The 2014 median cost was $7,181, according to the most recent data from NFDA.
Had I known the prices upfront, I wouldve shopped around, Kerben said.
Situations such as Kerbens have prompted startups that want to pry open the costs in the funeral industry to allow for easier comparison shopping.
Experts say funeral prices have been hard to come by for disparate reasons, ranging from reluctance on the part of funeral homes to reveal the costs to confusion over how to easily disclose them. On top of that, American culture shies away from discussions of death and its associated costs.
The Federal Trade Commission requires funeral homes to give prices over the phone and on paper in person when asked. But the FTCs Funeral Rule doesnt require prices to be given online or by email. Right now, online pricing is required only in California.
Tech companies want to fill this gap. Tyler Yamasaki co-launched funeral comparison site Parting.com in 2015 after he had trouble finding costs online while planning his grandmothers funeral.
We originally went in with the premise that funeral homes werent putting out information because they didnt want to, said Yamasaki, chief executive and co-founder of Parting, which runs Parting.com. But once we worked with more and more funeral homes, we realized that they provide a really valuable service. Theyre really there to help. They just dont have the know-how or resources to really adapt to the new type of consumer that theyre faced with.
Parting.com offers prices for more than 15,000 funeral homes, covering about 78 percent of the 19,322 businesses in the United States. After initially obtaining prices by mystery shopping, Parting.com mainly relies on funeral homes to update their own pricing.
Our site is not necessarily meant to be 100 percent accurate, like what youre going to get. Its really to show comparison because the discrepancies in price are really wild, Yamasaki said.
Atlanta-based Funeralocity, a similar price comparison website, launched in May. The company published prices on the website for the 200 funeral homes in the metropolitan statistical area. Ed Michael Reggie, founder and CEO, declined to explain how Funeralocity keeps those prices updated, calling it a trade secret.
This is giving a transparency thats been needed to the funeral industry, and maybe thats going to help the reputation because so many people feel so, in a grief-stricken state, taken advantage of, he said. They have no idea what the prices are, and the fact that we can take a lot of that mystery away for them is a good thing for the industry.
The companies follow different profit models, though neither charges the consumer. Parting.com sells advertising packages to funeral homes that allow them to update their profiles. Funeralocity receives a fee when consumers book funeral homes that are part of the companys Excellence Program. Member funeral homes apply for free and can update their prices and profiles. Consumers who book through these businesses get a five percent rebate. A quarter of Atlantas funeral homes are part of the program.
If consumers on either site want to buy services, however, they have to directly contact the funeral home.
But startups alone cant solve the problem of price transparency, said Joshua Slocum, executive director of the watchdog group the Funeral Consumers Alliance. That is where the FTC comes in. The Funeral Consumers Alliance and the Consumer Federation of America are petitioning the federal agency to revise the Funeral Rule to require disclosing prices online.
Slocum said third-party price comparison websites shouldnt be necessary for publicizing funeral prices online. Clear online pricing should be a baseline requirement of all funeral homes, he said.
We have an industry that is so difficult to get prices out of that were actually discussing another, additional third-party industry as a tech startup to get the prices out of the primary industry, Slocum said. Thats sort of extraordinary, isnt it?
Reggie said startups had a place in the funeral industry as price aggregators. Slocum agreed, adding that these companies could normalize comparing costs.
We really encourage people to break this artificial taboo of refusing to talk about the cost of funerals as a reasonable part of the process, Slocum said. Just the act of looking at prices and comparing them in the same context that youre used to doing with cars and books and Amazon helps to make this less taboo and more normal.
RICHMOND HEIGHTS Police arrested at least 22 people in a protest at the St. Louis Galleria on Saturday afternoon amid the continuing reaction to the acquittal Sept. 15 of a white police officer in the shooting death of a black drug suspect.
On Saturday night, the protest group had moved to the Ritz Carlton hotel in Clayton and then outside the doors of the Target store in Brentwood. They left the area outside the store by about 8 p.m.
Some protesters remained outside the St. Louis County Justice Center in Clayton, as rumors circulated that those in custody would be released Saturday night. But a police spokesman said those in custody would remain overnight and state charges would be filed against them on Sunday.
One of the people waiting outside was Ian Barczewski, 29, of St. Louis, who said that his friend and colleague Zach Becker was in custody. Becker had gone to the mall to buy a suitcase for a work trip and saw a friend of his protesting. He stopped to talk, heard whistles and saw police approaching, Barczewski said. Two officers kneed Becker, then zip tied his hands in front of his body. He was able to send a message to Barczewski through Facebook: help help help.
Barczewski said Becker had a kidney transplant and takes medication regularly. He tried to get police attention at the Justice Center to get the medicine to Becker, but couldnt get a response. Eventually, a legal observer got in touch with a nurse who got the medication to Becker.
I dont have faith in the current police system, Barczewski said.
At the Galleria, police made the arrests and cleared the mall building of demonstrators after some in the group refused orders to disperse. Among those arrested was a 13-year-old boy, who was later released to his parents.
Basel Isa said he did not hear an order to disperse. He said all we heard were whistles and then police were arresting people.
It was chaotic, he said.
At one point, police prevented some protesters from getting on an escalator to join others already on the second floor. Some trash cans were overturned.
St. Louis County police said that an officer was taken to a hospital with a back injury and that two protesters had minor injuries. A tweet from county police said the charges were expected to include rioting, trespassing, disorderly conduct and assaulting a law enforcement officer.
Police said about 150 other people followed dispersal warnings and peacefully left.
Another tweet from county police said that no one has the right to destroy the property of others and remain on private property after being asked to leave.
The mall entrances were closed by police, but a Galleria security spokesman said the mall was open again before 3 p.m.
Richmond Heights police said in a Facebook post that the Gallerias management had initially allowed the peaceful protest to proceed. But police said management later asked that it be stopped when protesters refused to refrain from blocking shoppers access to escalators.
This was not tolerated by mall management, and they wanted all protesters removed from the mall, police said.
Police said the blocking was done in an attempt to take over the second floor of the mall.
Richmond Heights police said they gave three orders to disperse, after which the arrests began. County police were called in to assist.
Also Saturday afternoon, more than 100 protesters showed up outside Americas Center in downtown St. Louis. No one was arrested there.
The group at Americas Center first massed on the sidewalk outside the Washington Avenue entrance, then moved into the street.
The group then walked down Seventh to Convention Center Plaza. Watching them from inside glass doors to the facility were people attending a conference organized by evangelist Joyce Meyer.
Protesters included several clergy members. One protest backer, the Rev. Darryl Gray, said one of their goals was to get Meyer to speak out. Gray, in a statement issued before the protest, said Meyer had a national platform and we are calling upon her to use it to speak against police shooting of unarmed black people especially after the verdict.
A spokeswoman for Meyer, Lori Potter, said that Meyer would not address the group and that she had a full schedule at the conference.
The judges ruling that spurred the protests acquitted Jason Stockley, an ex-St. Louis police officer, in the death in 2011 of Anthony Lamar Smith.
Stockley argued that he shot Smith in self-defense after a suspected drug deal and a high-speed pursuit and crash.
CLAYTON Twenty-two protesters arrested during a demonstration Saturday at the St. Louis Galleria were released Sunday as the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri raised concerns about force used by police in taking them into custody.
About 200 protesters gathered Sunday afternoon outside the St. Louis County Justice Center in Clayton to meet those released. At times they blocked the street or marched through downtown Clayton as they waited for the final arrestees to be freed.
Seven were charged with state crimes, including misdemeanor counts of rioting and interfering with or resisting arrest. One woman was also charged with a felony, assaulting a law enforcement officer.
Police say the woman, the Rev. Karla Frye of St. Peter AME Church in St. Louis, jumped on an officers back as she tried to stop him from making an arrest. Police say he was taken to a hospital to be treated for a back injury. There was no update on his condition.
Photos taken by a Post-Dispatch photographer show her grabbing an officer from behind as he appears to be trying to arrest someone. A photo also shows her arrest, with a police officers hand at her neck. Protesters complained that she was being choked.
Defendant resisted her own arrest with physical force, a court document filed in her case says. It says Frye and others collectively refused police commands to disperse, and reacted to police commands with physical force and violence.
Family and lawyers say Frye was responding to the rough treatment of her 13-year-old grandson by police. The boy was taken into custody, but later released to family who say he was bruised and hurting from the encounter. But his arm was not broken, as had been rumored.
Bail for Frye, 56, of Bellefontaine Neighbors, was set at $10,000, with 10 percent needed in cash to free her. Protest leaders gathered donations from demonstrators outside the Justice Center to pay the bail.
Of the six other people charged, at least one had been arrested a week earlier during a protest in St. Louis that brought its own set of controversial arrests.
Fifteen other people were held overnight at the county jail but released without state charges. They will be referred to the Richmond Heights Municipal Court for local charges, police said.
Police say the arrested protesters had failed to head warnings to leave the Richmond Heights mall Saturday during a protest amid the continuing reaction to the acquittal Sept. 15 of a white police officer in the shooting death of a black drug suspect.
Police said about 150 other people followed dispersal warnings and peacefully left. But some protesters told the Post-Dispatch they had not heard an order to disperse, just whistles and then police moving in to arrest people.
The ACLU of Missouri complained about the nature of those arrests in a letter to St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, St. Louis Police Chief Jon Belmar and Richmond Heights Mayor Jim Thomson on Sunday.
Weve seen images of what appears to be unnecessary use of force by police at the St. Louis Galleria, such as tackling people to the ground, and arresting them in ways that cause bodily injury, wrote Anthony Rothert, legal director of the organization.
Yet again, the nation watches St. Louis, the letter said. This is a unique time in our region. In order to move forward, we must learn from the lessons of our past. That means we must continue to allow nonviolent, robust freedom of speech. We must allow the community to continue to express its outrage, pain, and grief.
The nonprofit ArchCity Defenders law firm, meanwhile, complained that its lawyers had difficulty reaching clients inside the jail. The group said the courthouse was simply shut down.
At every turn, our lawyers were met with delay, miscommunication, and a general indifference to the rights of the people arrested and the attorneys who work with them, Thomas Harvey, executive director and co-founder of ArchCity Defenders, said in the statement.
Among those released Sunday was Zach Becker. On Saturday, a friend had worked to get needed medication to the jail for Becker, who had a kidney transplant. After the friend had trouble getting police attention at the jail, a legal observer got in touch with a nurse to get the medication inside.
Upon his release, Becker said he was going to a hospital to get checked out.
Denise Hollinshed of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Bringing people into planet studies
The Anthropocene, or the Age of Humans, is the new name of the current era of our planets history. It refers to the massive impact humans now have on the planets climate and ecosystems. It differs from previous eras in many different ways, for example, that social and economic networks are now spanning the whole globe with planetary scale social-ecological feedbacks. In this new situation, the authors argue, it is high time to really bring socioeconomic dynamics explicitly into theory, analysis and models of Earth system science.
"We need a new paradigm in Earth System science that is founded equally on a deep understanding of the physical and biological Earth System and of the economic, social and cultural forces that are now an intrinsic part of it," they write.
The article, which is entitled Closing the loop: Reconnecting human dynamics to Earth System science, argues that both the planets biophysical and social complexity needs to be analysed. Oversimplifying the social complexity in our analysis means that scientific knowledge will fail to support the worlds societies in delivering on the ambitious Paris climate agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We then risk pushing Earths climate and biosphere out of the relatively stable state of the last 11,000 years a period called the Holocene by geologists.
Simple systems, complex outcomes
To illustrate the need to deal with the complexity of both planet and people, the article presents a case of a deliberately elementary representation of decarbonization in the energy sector. This model demonstrates how subsidies and other socioeconomic factors influence the energy market.
"This is a hugely simplified case, but it reveals non-trivial effects not usually taken into account in integrated Earth System modelling," they write.
The case shows that even including a minimum of socioeconomic dynamics can produce complex behaviour and multiple outcomes when modelling the different roads to decarbonization.
Earth system science and the SDGs
The Paris climate targets and the SDGs clearly show humanitys ambition to remain within a safe operating space and increase the wellbeing of all people. Earth System science should play a critical part in this endeavour, the authors write. This will require increased efforts to connect the science of human behaviour and impacts with biophysical processes and to seek to understand the very rich dynamics that result.
"We have existing tools and approaches to study such phenomena. Such analysis offers significant potential to augment existing models and methodologies and so help humanity chart a course towards a desirable Holocene-like Anthropocene," the authors conclude.
The Stratford delegation, including the Herald's Ben Lugg, lined-up with Chinese officials as they were welcomed to the opening ofChina and the UK 45 Years of Ambassadorial Relations Photo Exhibition and British Festival.
Friday 29th September - Stratford delegation home after hugely successful China trip.
Stratfords delegation to China has returned to the UK following a visit designed to cement friendships with the city of Fuzhou.
The jam-packed schedule included meetings with local government officials, the spectacular opening ceremony of the Tang Xianzu International Drama Festival and an array of cultural visits to local sites and landmarks.
The growing partnership between Stratford and Fuzhou is viewed positively by officials in China and Stratford district councillors, who say the relationship could potentially increase interest in Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu across the globe.
Though this trip is now over, a Chinese delegation is likely to visit Stratford next April for the Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations.
The Herald will be watching the development of Sang Weng Town, a planned cultural attraction near Fuzhou featuring recreations of some a number of Stratfords historical buildings, with great interest.
Read next weeks Herald for the views of reporter Ben Lugg and photographer Mark Williamson on the trip.
Follow how the trip developed, below.....
STRATFORD-UPON-AVONS links with China are set to grow stronger this week as a delegation from the town visits Fuzhou.
District Councillors, representatives of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Herald journalists set off from Stratford on Thursday for the visit that will feature the inaugural Tang Xianzu International Drama Festival in Fuzhou, celebrating the life and works of one of Chinas most influential dramatists, as well as an International Forum on Cultural Heritage and Innovation.
Building a replica of Stratford in China will also be discussed with further details about San Weng Town set to be revealed.
Here are the reports from Herald reporter Ben Lugg and photographer Mark Williamson as we get them...
Sunday: Fuzhous Tang Xianzu International Drama Festival kicked off with a spectacular opening ceremony last night, featuring hundreds of dancers and singers from across the globe.
Thousands of spectators, including a delegation from Stratford, looked on from a large stand opposite the main stage as performers, mainly local students, took part in a series of eye-catching displays.
In between flamenco and Hawaiian dancing routines, Shakespeare was honoured by around 150 local students, performing with swords in front of a huge inflatable model of the Bard, while singers performed a special song in dedication to Shakespeare called To be or not to be.
Locals watched as the photo exhibitioned was opened.
Stratford wasn't the only place to have a food festival this weekend, Fuzhou having a similar event in the city centre.
The Spanish segment of the show was a colourful affair.
The Herald was not the only media covering event, TV companies and a large number of Chinese journalists were also in attendance.
Members of the Stratford delegation such as council leader Cllr Chris Saint, Cllr Chris Kettle and Nicholas Fulcher from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust sat alongside a number of Chinese politicians in the front row.
The show ended with a spectacular fireworks display, a fitting launch for the second Tang Xinazu International Drama Festival, which officials in Fuzhou hope to develop into a popular annual event.
Earlier in the day delegation visited the Fuzhou Urban Planning Exhibition Centre, a huge building in the centre of the city packed full of displays and huge models detailing how Fuzhou will be developed over future years as the population booms.
The exhibition, which also used CGI graphics throughout, showed a number of projects on the drawing board, perhaps more ambitious then Stratfords controversial South Western Relief Road.
Later the Stratford delegation were guests of honour at special photography exhibition marking 45 years of ambassadorial relations between the UK and China.
The exhibition featured pictures from previous visits to China by Stratford officials as well as the Chinese visit to Stratford during the Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations.
Xiao Yi, municipal party secretary, was shown around the exhibition accompanied by Cllr Chris Saint and Karen Maddocks, consul-general of the British consulate in Guangzhou.
Afterwards the delegation were given the chance to experience some of the regions well known dishes at the Tang Xianzu International Food Festival before being treated to yet more delicacies at a banquet hosted by the Jiangxi Provincial Government.
Stratford and Fuzhous drama links through Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu were once again at the forefront of activities today as the International Forum of cultural Inheritance and Innovation took place.
160 scholars and guests from across the world gathered for the forum, which saw speakers draw attention to the themes of Shakespeare, Tang Xianzu and Cervantes and the relevance each playwright has to todays audience.
Overall there has been a great deal of positivity surrounding the blossoming friendship between Stratford and Fuzhou with both sides trying hard to cement the ties established over recent years.
Saturday: Excitement is building on the eve of Fuzhous Tang Xianzus International Drama Festival as officials from Stratford-upon-Avon prepare to help celebrate the Chinese playwright in his hometown.
The connection between Stratford and Fuzhou stems from their most famous sons, Chinas leading playwright Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare, both of whom died in 1616.
On Saturday the streets of Fuzhou were brought to a standstill as crowds gathered to watch a dress rehearsal of the festivals opening ceremony featuring hundreds of dancers.
It certainly looks like it will be hot in the city with temperatures set to reach 36 degrees.
Officials from Stratford and Fuzhou are keen to build on the friendship developed between the two over recent years and this weeks visit follows a number of others which have taken place over recent years.
It has taken around 15 hours travelling for our delegation to reach Fuzhou, broken up by a stop in Shanghai in which the delegation took in some of the citys spectacular sights enjoyed a range of local cuisines.
Speaking ahead of the festival's opening day, the Mayor of Fuzhou, Zhang Hong Xing, welcomed Stratfords delegation to the city.
He told me: This year 2017 marks 45 years since the UK and China established established ambassadorial relations and we are now in a golden era of relations between both countries. I feel we are not just good friends, we are like relatives.
We are planning to hold the International Drama Festival every year and we already have great plans for next year with more wonderful shows and performances. In China there is an old saying, the journey of one thousand miles starts with one step this festival is just a small beginning.
Mr Xing also told me that that work on Sang Weng Town was underway and that a delegation from Fuzhou would plan to come over to Stratford every year for the Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations.
Cllr Chris Saint, leader of Stratford District Council, said: It was great to be called an old friend as I walked in today. We look forward to continued cooperation with the Peoples Republic of China and I feel that this relationship has been very productive so far and will only grow in strength."
More updates to come from China.
A Bay of Plenty woman has been airlifted to hospital with a suspected spinal injury.
The woman was located in rugged bush on Sunday after a personal locator beacon had been activitaed near the Pakiki Hutt area.
The BayTrust Rescue Helicopter was called into to airlift the injured woman to Whakatane Hospital.
A spokesperson for the rescue chopper says they were dispatched by the Rescue Coordination Centre after the beacon was activated.
"The PLB had been set off after a 35-year-old Rotorua woman was found with suspect spinal injuries after a fall from a mountain bike.
"The woman was airlifted to Whaketane Hospital for medical treatment."
Rondell Scott
Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse man was found guilty Friday of murdering a 15-year-old boy and injuring two others after firing into a car stopped at a South Side intersection in 2015.
The jury took about four hours to find Rondell Scott, 36, guilty of murder, weapons and related charges in the shooting at Midland Avenue and West Newell Street, defense lawyer Tom Ryan said.
Scott shot and killed Tyquan Jones, 15, at close range, also hitting two others in the vehicle, as well, prosecutor Shaun Chase has said.
Scott inserted himself into a dispute between teenagers, Chase told the jury during opening statements. The dispute may have started over a girl, the prosecutor said.
A teen that Scott knew pointed out Jones and the other victims as they drove by. The teen told Scott he believed one of the occupants had a gun.
Scott then flagged down a neighbor and followed the teens. He got out in stopped traffic, walked up to their car and opened fire, Chase told the jury.
After the murder, Scott fled to Mississippi after police raided his house looking for evidence, Chase said.
He was caught in Greenwood, Miss. a couple months later.
Scott's trial took place last week before County Court Judge Stephen Dougherty. Lawyers gave closing arguments Friday morning. The jury broke for lunch and then began deliberating around 1 p.m., coming back with a guilty verdict around 5 p.m., Ryan said.
Chase could not be reached for comment.
Scott faces up to 25 years to life for the murder -- and possibly more time for the other shootings -- when sentenced in November. He remains in jail.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The site of a quadruple shooting early Sunday morning calls itself "Hush Lounge" but operates out of a boarded-up upholstery business. There isn't a sign, and the windows are boarded up.
Police are "looking into" whether the site is operating legally, said spokesman Sgt. Richard Helterline.
Four people were shot and suffered non-life-threatening injuries at a shootout around 3 a.m. At least two guns were fired, and there were at least 10 gunshots, police said.
The shooting began after a "large fight" inside and outside the lounge, and bullets sprayed across East Fayette Street. The fallout was visible early Sunday morning: Bloody footprints and a Honda SUV damaged by gunfire.
Helterline said police are still investigating the circumstances behind the shooting. He also said the lounge has drawn investigators' attention.
They'll be looking into whether the lounge was serving alcohol. They would not be able to do so after 2 a.m. It was not immediately clear whether the lounge had a liquor license.
This screenshot from Facebook appears to show the inside of Hush Lounge, which operates out of a boarded-up upholstery business. Kawan Woodley, an owner, posted this picture from "teen night" about 11:30 p.m. on Friday.
"(Hush is) a place that hosts after hours events at times, and depending on what they are doing it may or may not be legal," Helterline said. "We are looking into it. They would not be able to serve alcohol there without a permit, and surely not after 2 a.m. At this time we do not know if they were serving or not."
The lounge could be operating legally if it does not serve alcohol, Helterline said.
"If they just have people over, then it may not be breaking any laws," he said.
The New York State Liquor Authority's website has no record of a liquor license at the address.
The site at 1226 E. Fayette is a boarded-up upholstery business called "Silverbush." On Sunday morning, the site was too dark to see inside except for a cigarette butt that sat inside on a windowsill.
Helterline said he was not sure if the upholstery business still operated.
Business records in Syracuse.com archives show a Hush Lounge was incorporated in 2014 on 1200 E. Fayette Street by Kenneth Kinsey and Kawan Woodley.
Woodley and Kinsey could not be immediately reached Sunday.
Woodley's Facebook page shows lively scenes at what he called "Hush Lounge" in recent days, including a post from Friday night around 11:30 p.m. for "teen night."
"Hush lounge teens rocking better then (sic) the adults," he wrote in the post, accompanied by a blurry picture or people dancing.
A neighbor who witnessed the shooting and heard about 10 gunshots early Sunday called the place a nuisance. He said he'd called 911 on it in the past. The neighbor declined to be identified out of fear of retaliation.
WASHINGTON - The floundering Republican attempt to undo the Affordable Care Act met hardening resistance from key GOP senators Sunday that left it on the verge of collapsing, even as advocates vowed to keep pushing for a vote this week.
With Senate GOP leaders just one "no" vote away from defeat, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in a TV interview that it was "very difficult" to envision voting for the bill written by Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said he and a colleague were not ready to back the measure. And Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has come out against it, showed no signs of backing down in his own TV appearance.
As Graham and Cassidy pledged to keep trying to pass their bill, the White House and the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave differing accounts of the path ahead. White House legislative affairs director Marc Short predicted a Wednesday vote while a McConnell spokesman declined to publicly embrace that timeline.
The fresh discord over a signature Republican promise added turbulence to the start of a critical week for President Donald Trump and McConnell, R-Ky. In addition to health care, they are both watching Tuesday's special election primary runoff in Alabama, a high-stakes intra-party fight that could set the tone for the midterm elections. GOP leaders are also expected to unveil their most detailed blueprint yet of the tax reform plan they hope to pass by the end of the year.
Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," Collins cited concerns about how the Cassidy-Graham legislation would affect Medicaid recipients and people with preexisting medical conditions, among other things.
"It is very difficult for me to envision a scenario where I would end up voting for this bill," Collins said. "I have a number of serious reservations about it."
Two Republican senators - Paul and John McCain of Arizona - have already said they would vote against Cassidy-Graham. A third would be enough to defeat the bill, since no Democrats are expected to support it. Republicans hold a 52-48 advantage in the Senate.
The bill has been roundly rejected by influential national groups representing physicians, hospitals and insurers. On Saturday, six such organizations including the American Medical Association and American Hospital Association issued a joint statement urging the Senate to reject it.
Collins voted against a July repeal bill and is a key swing vote in the current dynamic. Last week, she said she was leaning against Cassidy-Graham. Privately, many Republicans have predicted that she will ultimately come out against the bill.
The senator said she had a lengthy chat with Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday. But that was not enough to sway her. Collins said she wants to see the limited forthcoming analysis of the legislation from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office this week before she makes a final decision.
"Even over the weekend, I was receiving emails suggesting that the sponsors of the bill are still changing the formula," she said. "So it may be difficult for the CBO to do the kind of in-depth analysis that it usually does, but that's what I would like to see before making a formal decision."
The CBO has said that it will not be able to provide an assessment of how Cassidy-Graham would affect insurance premiums or the number of people with medical coverage "for at least several weeks." But Trump and McConnell are trying to bring the bill to a vote by the end of this week take advantage of a procedural rule allowing the plan to pass with just 51 votes.
But it was far from clear Sunday that they could get even close to that number.
Addressing Cassidy-Graham at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Cruz said, "right now, they don't have my vote. And I don't think they have Mike Lee's either," referring to the Republican senator from Utah.
Cruz said that he and Lee met with Graham and Cassidy last week to propose changes to the measure that would get them to yes, but their changes were not included.
Graham and Cassidy appeared on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," where they defended their plan and vowed to keep up their efforts to shepherd it to passage.
"We're moving forward. And we'll see what happens next week. I'm very excited about it," Graham said. The South Carolina Republican mentioned Collins and Paul as he made his pitch.
"Rand Paul objects to the taxes," he said. "But when you look at the bill, Rand, we save a lot of money over time for Medicaid. We put a cap on Obamacare growth."
On NBC's "Meet the Press," Paul showed no signs that he was preparing to switch his position.
"I'm just not for this block-granting concept," he said. At the core of the Cassidy-Graham plan is a maneuver to turn funding for the ACA into block grants for states. It would also dramatically cut Medicaid spending over time.
Also on "Meet the Press," Short said, "We're planning to have the vote this week," adding, "we think it'll probably be Wednesday."
McConnell's office said last week that he intended to bring Cassidy-Graham to the floor this week but has provided no further details. Asked Sunday whether McConnell agrees with Short's timeline, McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said McConnell had not announced a vote schedule.
The Republican leader is also keeping a close eye this week on the Senate race in Alabama, where Republican Sen. Luther Strange is trying to get past insurgent primary challenger Roy Moore, a former judge. Trump and McConnell both back Strange, but supporters and associates of Trump, including former chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, have voiced support for Moore.
If Moore defeats Strange, it will be a blow to both McConnell and Trump, who have rallied their powerful political operations behind Strange. Some Republicans also believe it will embolden other conservative insurgents to challenge Republican senators in 2018.
Also this week, the "Big Six" negotiators from the White House, Senate and House are expected to unveil more details of their tax reform plan, which like the health-care talks, could be spark messy disagreements among Republicans that could complicate their next big legislative target.
Some of the elements of the plan have already started taking shape. Republicans are targeting a corporate rate of 20 percent in their overhaul, according to three people familiar with the emerging blueprint - a number that represents a substantial cut from the current 35 percent rate but falls short of the 15 percent Trump has advocated.
But for Senate Republicans, the first order of business this week is resolving the health-care push - one way or the other. Even the bill's champions have already started pondering the prospect of failure.
Asked on "This Week" what he will tell people if he comes up short, Graham responded: "That I did everything I could to get money and power out of Washington to give you better health care closer to where you live and I'm not going to stop fighting."
A Buffalo seasonal parks employee was charged after he stabbed a pit bull that was being walked by its owner Saturday morning.
Buffalo Police said a woman was walking her dog just after 8 a.m. Saturday near Mineral Springs Road and Frank Avenue when a man got out of the passenger side of a City of Buffalo vehicle, exchanged words with her and then stabbed her dog with a knife.
He got back in the car, which took off, but two men were caught a short time later in the 1300 block of South Park Avenue.
Police charged James Craddock, 46, with aggravated cruelty to animals, criminal possession of a weapon and menacing.
The dog was taken to a veterinarian clinic in Orchard Park, where it underwent surgery.
Police said Craddock is a seasonal parks employee, and was in a city vehicle at the time of the incident.
--By Barbara O'Brien, The Buffalo News, N.Y.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The Latest on a shooting at a church in Nashville (all times local):
4:40 p.m.
Police have released the identity of a suspect in a Tennessee church shooting.
Metropolitan Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron identified the suspect as 25-year-old Emanuel Kidega Samson of Murfreesboro.
Aaron says Samson has been discharged from Vanderbilt University Hospital and charging warrants are being obtained.
Aaron says the gunman arrived in the parking lot as services were being let out Sunday at the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ. Aaron says a woman who was walking to her vehicle was fatally shot.
Aaron says the gunman then entered the rear of the church and six people were shot. Aaron says a churchgoer who confronted the gunman was pistol-whipped by the suspect, who then shot himself.
___
3 p.m.
A witness to a shooting at a Tennessee church is calling an usher who confronted a gunman "a hero."
Minerva Rosa has been a member at the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in the Nashville neighborhood of Antioch for eight years. She was inside when a suspect opened fired Sunday.
Rosa says the suspect said nothing as he shot churchgoers. As the gunman made his way down the aisle, Rosa says the pastor started shouting, "'Run! Run! Gunshots!"
Metropolitan Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron say the usher was pistol whipped as he confronted the suspect, who then apparently shot himself during the struggle. Aaron says the usher then went to his own car to retrieve his gun, returned and stood over the suspect until police arrived.
Rosa says without the usher, the situation "could be worse."
Aaron didn't immediately identify the usher but calls him "an extraordinarily brave individual."
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2:15 p.m.
Nashville Mayor Megan Barry says a shooting at a church is "a terrible tragedy for our city."
Barry issued a statement Sunday afternoon after a suspect opened fire at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ, killing a woman and wounding seven other victims at the church. Authorities say he also shot himself.
Barry says her "heart aches for the family and friends of the deceased as well as for the wounded victims and their loved ones. Their lives have been forever changed, as has the life of their faith community at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ."
Barry has dealt with her personal tragedy after her 22-year-old son died of an apparent drug overdose near Denver on July 29.
She says her administration "will continue to work with community members to stop crime before it starts, encourage peaceful conflict resolution, and promote non-violence."
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1:20 p.m.
Nashville police say a suspect in a church shooting apparently shot himself.
Metropolitan Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said at a news conference that the gunman arrived in the parking lot as services were being let out Sunday at the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ. Aaron says the suspect fatally shot a woman who was walking to her vehicle.
Aaron says the gunman then entered the rear of the church and six people were shot. Aaron says a churchgoer who confronted the gunman was pistol-whipped by the suspect, who then shot himself.
Aaron said the suspect, who was in his mid-20s and was from Rutherford County, was taken to a hospital. Aaron didn't immediately release the suspect's name or condition.
Aaron says witnesses are still being interviewed.
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1 p.m.
Authorities in Tennessee say one person is dead and seven people sustained injuries after a gunman opened fire at a church in Nashville.
Metro Nashville Police Department says the gunman was wounded and was taken to a hospital. No details were available about his condition.
The police department said on Twitter that six of the injured were shot and one was pistol-whipped.
The alleged shooting occurred at the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in the neighborhood in Antioch.
___
Authorities in Tennessee say at least six people were injured in a shooting at a church in the Nashville area.
Nashville fire department spokesman Joseph Pleasant tells the Tennessean newspaper that at least six to eight people were hurt and were being transported to Vanderbilt Medical Center. The nature of the injuries weren't immediately known.
A dispatcher quoted by the newspaper said that the scene was still "active" at the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ as of 11:40 a.m. Sunday.
A Nashville police spokesman didn't immediately answer a telephone call or respond to an email on the shooting.
The levees lining Louisianas waterways designed to protect communities from flooding are becoming a growing source of friction between the people who own the land they cut through and those who want to use them for recreation or as convenient shortcuts to get to their destinations.
And the disputes over who has access to the levees may soon be headed to the courts to resolve.
The mostly gravel-top levees along the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers and other waterways that snake through hunting camps and sprawling agricultural pastures are, by law, private property even though they are maintained using public tax dollars.
Locked gates on private land along Mississippi River poses legal issue for Levee Board PORT ALLEN The Atchafalaya Basin Levee Board is asking the state's Attorney General's Offi
Young and old have traveled on the levees for more than a century, but access to them has become increasingly contentious. Some landowners have taken to putting up gates to keep people out.
The landowners say its to keep poachers away who hunt and fish on property they dont own and because they fear they could be held liable should someone be injured on their property.
"I really hate it for people because I know there are a lot of good folks that used it, but for every good guy there's about 10 bad guys," said Steven Kent, a Pointe Coupee businessman who put a locked gate on a levee that crosses through his property.
Others say its a public safety hazard because a locked gate on a levee road could close off a vital evacuation route in the event of a hurricane, train derailment or flood.
A dispute over a recently-installed, locked gate on a levee road that cuts through 500 acres Kent owns not far from the Iberville Parish town of Maringouin has put a fresh focus on the issue.
"The public has never been forbidden to go down that levee," says Matt Jewell, chairman of the Iberville Parish Council. "The public's money has been going into the upkeep of that levee all these years. How can you justify using tax dollars on property that has all of a sudden become private?"
Iberville Parish leaders like Jewell upset over the gate appear poised to challenge legal precedent and a Louisiana Attorney General's opinion asserting the state's levee system isn't the public domain that many may have thought.
Kent, who put up the gate to block public access to the levee road between Belmont Lane and U.S. Highway 190, said hes simply protecting his property and shielding himself from potential liability should someone be injured on his land.
After years of giving the public unrestricted access to his property, Kent said, he was fed up with teenagers and hunters wandering onto his property whenever they wanted to shoot and kill deer and other animals.
"We must have found 25 dead animals within the past year," Kent says. "There was a bunch of poaching going on. These guys would shoot deer from the top of the levee."
Trigger-happy trespassers aren't the only factor driving many property owners' decision to cut off the public's access to levee roads.
John Grezaffi, chairman of the Board of Commissioners for the Atchafalaya Levee Board, says there have also been reports of drivers running down cattle as they dart across levee roads.
And as more people riding ATVs use the levee roads for recreation, Grezaffi said, many property owners are worried they'll be liable if someone is hurt or killed while using a motorized recreational vehicle on their property.
"Times have changed," Grezaffi said. "When I was kid, I rode horses on the levee. Now we have four-wheelers and motorbikes. There's a lot going on that the public doesn't know exists, which has made people want to protect what they have."
Several property owners also complained about teens driving out on the levees to park and party.
Kent said he didn't expect his decision to put up a gate to protect his property to generate as much backlash as it has from locals who want to continue using the levee road. But their anger hasn't made him rethink what he did.
"People call me every day about it. Someone actually drove through the gate the other day, and we had to go back and put it back up," Kent said.
Jewell got the Iberville Parish Council to adopt a resolution recently asking that the Atchafalaya Basin Levee District, the governing authority that oversees the maintenance and upkeep of approximately 300 miles of the levee system within its eight-parish jurisdiction, to prohibit Kent from closing the levee road off to the public.
The town of Maringouin passed a similar resolution.
Iberville Parish officials argue the levee road on Kent's property is the most plausible evacuation route in that area for weather-related events or an emergency situation like a train derailment. Maringouin is home to a large railroad facility.
But the levee board isn't certain they have the authority to force Kent to keep the gate open. A 2016 opinion from the state's Attorney General Office has made the levee board's commissioners hesitant to weigh in on the brewing tension around Kent's situation.
That opinion details a similar situation in the Red River, Atchafalaya and Bayou Boeuf Levee District where local residents were trying to stop property owners from installing locked gates and fences along the 230 miles of levee under the district's governing authority.
The levee servitude the Army Corp of Engineers had to broker with property owners to create the levee system was described in the AGs opinion as a "peculiar" legal agreement.
The opinion states that even though taxpayer money is used by local levee districts to maintain levee roadways, "the landowner's right to exclude the public from the use of his property is not affected."
"Additionally, the public has no right to use levees as public thoroughfares," the opinion reads.
Chris Roy, chairman of the Board of Commissioners for the Red River, Atchafalaya and Bayou Boeuf Levee District, estimates that approximately 30 miles of their levee system has been closed off to public use by property owners who have installed locked gates and fences.
"Landowners own the levee unless it has somehow been converted to a public road of some sort," Roy said.
However, those who have installed gates are required to provide the levee district with keys to the locks so that annual inspections can be conducted by the Corps, and so that officials will have access when the threat of flooding looms.
The Atchafalaya Levee Board places the same regulations on property owners who install locked gates along its levee system.
Grezaffi says they've never had an issue getting keys to locks from property owners, nor has there even been an issue getting access to parts of the levee closed off from public access when the board needed it.
Jacques LaCour, a Pointe Coupee Parish farmer, has installed four gates along the levee roads on his property but doesn't lock them.
Despite knowing he has a legal right to keep the public out, LaCour recognizes how quickly and unexpectedly emergency situations can arise and would rather parish officials not have to fish around for a key to get access to the levee when they need it.
"But at the end of the day, it's a property owner's prerogative to have a gate or not," he adds.
The Atchafalaya levee board has asked for another AG's opinion specific to the Kent situation because Grezaffi says every situation along the levee is different.
"What we do hinges on what the Attorney General's Office says," Grezaffi said.
Jewell is quick to point out that an opinion from the state Attorney General's Office is just that an opinion, not law.
Should the Atchafalaya levee board decide they don't have the authority to tell Kent not to lock his gates, Jewell said, the parish could take their requests to the state and, if need be, to the federal level.
"I don't know where this thing is going to go," he said. "The public has never been forbidden to go down that levee. We're going to see about keeping it open. Hopefully someone will intervene and say they concur."
East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council members along with participants from the police policy committee have started a campaign to recruit potential community police ambassadors, volunteers they hope will serve as agents to merge the divide between the community.
The applications for the positions opened last week, and 20 were already submitted as of Friday, said Councilwoman Tara Wicker, who has been spearheading the committee along with Councilman Trae Welch since the spring of 2016.
"We anticipate there's going to be an overwhelming response, which is great," Wicker said. "It means people in the community want to have their voices heard."
Baton Rouge Police, from both former Chief Carl Dabadie and current interim Chief Jonny Dunnam, has pledged its support of the ambassador program. Dabadie and Dunnam were involved in the discussions of the program throughout the spring and summer and Dunnam has offered to help in training the ambassadors.
"Everybody seems to be very positive about this and thinks (the ambassadors are) going to help in moving those relationships forward in a positive direction," Wicker said. She held the first informational and recruiting meeting for the ambassadors on Sept. 19 at Delmont Library, and though she said the turnout was low, the word is just starting to get out.
On Friday, Wicker's staff disseminated a flyer on recruiting meetings, as well as began promoting the application.
The program aims to have two ambassadors from every neighborhood within the city of Baton Rouge working as liaisons between residents and the police. Program leaders have not yet placed either a minimum or a maximum on the number of ambassadors. Applications are open both online and on paper. Wicker said they will continue to accept applications through at least the end of October.
Police policy group irons out details for community police ambassadors, introduces police career mentorship program The proposed community police ambassador program aimed at decreasing the divide between Bato
The ambassadors will be essentially self-selected, meaning no one will choose one candidate over another, but to become an ambassador people will have meet requirements of living in the city limits, being of certain age and demonstrating through the application their involvement and interest in their community. They will also have to complete the required training, which has parameters still unspecified but will include information on law enforcement and the legal process, the committee previously decided.
"I think exactly what Trae (Welch) and I set out to accomplish has happened," Wicker said. "The community which includes Council members, residents, police officers everybody really had a chance to talk through the issues and then strategize together."
Momentum for the group picked up after the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, by a white Baton Rouge Police officer in July 2016. Many of the ideas the committee has championed including the ambassador program came from open community forums that drew hundreds in the aftermath of the shooting, which was caught on a cell phone video and disseminated on social media.
The committee partnered with local academic institutions to draft policy recommendations that stemmed from the community forums and which were presented to the Metro Council in May. Wicker said she hopes the community ambassadors one of the recommended changes for Baton Rouge Police will be able to move forward the other proposals, like a citizen review board for police complaints and better policies for how officers respond to mental health calls.
"Life has been breathed into it," Wicker said. "We'll have people at the table who can move (our recommendations) forward."
Richard Slaughter, the resident who first brought to the city the idea for "community police ambassadors," said he's excited to see the program taking off. Though he is not eligible to apply because he now resides in Port Allen, he said he is still committed to seeing it through.
"I just want to make sure it's done the right way and we don't get off to the wrong start," Slaughter said."I've been in Baton Rouge most of my life; I'm invested."
Slaughter said he plans to be at the meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Scotlandville Library. After that, meetings will follow at that time on Tuesdays: at the Jones Creek Library on Oct. 3, Bluebonnet Library on Oct. 10, and Eden Park Library on Oct. 24. There are two other meetings to be scheduled at Broadmoor Baptist Church and St. Aloysius Catholic Church Parish Hall, with time and dates pending.
Slaughter said he plans to reach out to his friends, colleagues and family who are eligible and qualified to become ambassadors. He believes it's important that ambassadors already have influence in their neighborhoods and are dedicated to improving the area, and he said it helps if they already have a relationship with police.
"I want the right people involved," Slaughter said. "I just want to see things get better."
Clinton man dies in head on collision with tractor-trailer that also struck two other vehicles
WASHINGTON Months of furious work on a conservative health care overhaul by U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and his staff will reach a culmination this week in a frenzied final uphill push for votes.
The odds appear to be stacking against the proposal Cassidy co-authored with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, with several Republican colleagues wavering over whether to support the bill just days from a Saturday legislative deadline to pass it through the Senate on a simple-majority, party line vote.
The Cassidy-Graham plan is slated for a late Monday morning hearing before the U.S. Senate's finance committee, the first stop on a potentially frenetic rush toward a vote on the Senate floor. A partial, initial analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is also expected on Monday morning.
Despite increasingly long odds against them, Cassidy and Graham have forged ahead, continuing to try to sell their colleagues on their strategy to fulfill years of Republican campaign promises to scrap the 2010 Affordable Care Act, the signature legislative achievement of former President Barack Obama. Their efforts have perhaps been buoyed by President Donald Trump, who prodded undecided Republican senators and ripped into opponents of the bill in a series of tweets Saturday morning.
Two key Republican senators Arizona's John McCain and Kentucky's Rand Paul have publicly indicated they'll vote against the Cassidy-Graham plan. Losing one more Republican vote would erase the party's narrow majority and, given united Democratic opposition, sink the bill. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told CNN on Sunday morning it was "very difficult for me to envision a scenario where I would end up voting for this bill" but said she was waiting to review the CBO score on Monday before making a final decision.
Just one more Republican defector joining McCain and Paul against the Cassidy-Graham proposal would kill it.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is also seen as a key potential swing vote on the Cassidy-Graham plan. Murkowski joined McCain and Collins in killing Senate Republicans' previous attempt to repeal Obamacare in July and has expressed concerns about deep cuts to Alaskan federal health care funding under the Cassidy-Graham plan.
"Alaska had a 200% plus increase in premiums under ObamaCare, worst in the country. Deductibles high, people angry! Lisa M comes through," Trump tweeted shortly before sunrise Saturday morning.
"Right now, they dont have my vote, and I dont think they have (Sen.) Mike Lees, (R-Utah) either," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said at a Sunday morning event in Austin, Texas.
Cruz's surprise skepticism of the Cassidy-Graham plan adds to growing unease from the Republican Party's conservative firebrands, likely complicating any efforts by the bill's sponsors to win over moderates like Collins and Murkowski through tweaks to the plan or its funding formulas.
The bill, largely drafted by Cassidy and his staff over more than a month of relentless work, would keep many (though not all) of the Affordable Care Act's taxes in place. Instead of spending billions of federal dollars on the Medicaid expansion and individual insurance subsidies, the Cassidy-Graham plan would package most of that money into block grants for states.
The formula would shift billions in funding away from states that expanded Medicaid including Louisiana or that have enrolled large numbers of moderate-income residents in subsidized insurance plans under the Obamacare exchanges. Most states that opted not to expand Medicaid would see a bump in funding under Cassidy-Graham.
The bill would repeal penalties for individuals who don't buy health insurance and repeal requirements that businesses of a certain size provide employer-sponsored health insurance. Also, federal funding for traditional Medicaid would be capped under the plan.
Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, and Dean Heller, R-Nevada, are co-sponsoring the plan. Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania, helped craft the proposal and has been lobbying former colleagues.
Analyses of Cassidy-Graham by a range of groups, including several left-leaning think tanks as well as the Trump administration's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, have indicated the proposal would cut federal health care funding by billions.
Opposition to the plan, which could potentially have far-reaching implications for health care in the United States, especially for the disabled and those with low incomes, has extended beyond the Democratic minority in Congress and includes a bipartisan group of governors and a number of health groups.
Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, and Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, have not indicated publicly which way they'll vote. All represent swing states that expanded Medicaid and would likely stand to lose out on funding under Cassidy-Graham.
The national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and America's Health Insurance Plans, two major trade groups for the insurance industry, have come out against Cassidy-Graham, as did insurance firm Kaiser Permanente.
The American Medical Association, the nation's largest association of physicians, and the American Hospital Association also urged lawmakers to vote against it.
A study by the centrist Brookings Institution estimates that about 21 million more people would be without health insurance each year under Cassidy-Graham block grants than under the Affordable Care Act. The study's authors described those estimates as conservative, noting that individual states might face addition problems setting up their own health care systems.
Jeff Drozda, CEO of the Louisiana Association of Health Plans, which represents the health benefits industry, including managed-care companies that cover more than 1 million Medicaid recipients, said his group is optimistic the Cassidy-Graham bill could address issues in the health insurance markets.
But Drozda said he's also concerned about some of the language in the bill, particularly its impact on the roughly 435,000 Louisianans covered under the Medicaid expansion. Drozda, who has a meeting with Cassidy in Washington this week to discuss this bill and other issues, said he remains hopeful some language in the proposal could be tweaked.
"In the end, were very optimistic that there can be some movement on the issues on which were concerned," Drozda said Friday.
Louisiana hospitals support proposals that improve access to affordable coverage and critical medical services throughout our state, said Paul Salles, president and CEO of the Louisiana Hospital Association. We have concerns about the potential impact of the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson proposal and urge Senators to wait for a thorough analysis by the Congressional Budget Office. We appreciate Senator Cassidys engagement in health reform and want to continue working with him in this area."
"While several of this bill's provisions are cause for concern, our most pressing worry is centered around this bill's threat to the Medicaid program," said Ryan Sinitiere, a spokesman for the Louisiana Primary Care Association, a nonprofit group that represents community health centers across the state. "While we agree that state control over its policies and budget can be beneficial, we think that block granting Medicaid will be detrimental to Community Health Centers and their patients."
In general, key stakeholders in Louisiana's health care system appeared alarmed by the potential cuts in Medicaid funding and what the plan would likely mean for those covered by the Medicaid expansion.
But several also noted that premium increases and limited competition in the individual insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act just two companies now offer plans leave a serious problem to be addressed.
"From our prospective, consumers will not be able to afford what is coming in 2018, the (health insurance) plans are going to be limited, more narrow networks and no competition," said B. Ronnell Nolan, president and chief executive of the Baton Rouge-based Health Agents for America, Inc. "Washington needs to do something, because status quo is not working unless you are not working. We support this bill because it is a step in the right direction."
"We agree that change is needed. The ACA is not working as it is," said John Maginnis, spokesman for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, which did not take a position on the bill. "We applaud Sen. Cassidy for being willing to take action in proposing changes to improve the individual health insurance market."
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Bipartisan talks, led by Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, and Patty Murray, D-Washington, had aimed to craft some solutions to issues in the individual markets. Those talks, though, appeared to collapse last week amid the last-minute push to build support for Cassidy-Graham.
McCain, an 81-year-old Republican elder statesman now battling brain cancer, urged his colleagues to restart those discussions.
"The issue is too important, and too many lives are at risk, for us to leave the American people guessing from one election to the next whether and how they will acquire health insurance," McCain said in a statement Friday afternoon outlining his opposition to Cassidy-Graham. "A bill of this impact requires a bipartisan approach."
Graham, speaking with The Advocate on Tuesday, called the idea of a bipartisan solution to problems with the Affordable Care Act "an illusion" and contended the Republican majority in the House of Representatives would never pass "anything that props up Obamacare."
Addressing undecided colleagues like Murkowski, Graham pitched the repeal-and-replace proposal as the only alternative.
"That's the reality you have to deal with," Graham said. "All of us."
EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly indicated Jeff Drozda has been meeting with Cassidy about the bill. In fact, Drozda is scheduled to meet with the senator this week about the bill and other matters. This story was modified on Sept. 24 to correct the error.
It was an idea from one state treasurer that dominated budget negotiations for months only to be quietly sidelined earlier this year by the concerns of another state treasurer and likely will be resurrected by the person elected next state treasurer this fall.
Basically, House Speaker Taylor Barras was looking for a way to chip away at the seemingly annual revenue shortfall that amounts to about a third of the money available to pay the states everyday expenses. He turned to the state treasurer, then John N. Kennedy, to bounce off a few ideas and came away with what he says is a legal way to divert money from previously untouchable statutory dedications to help pay the states debt and thereby free some dollars to help pay the states bills.
State treasurers have no official role in making the states financial machine. But like the oil-stained mechanic below decks, they touch every cog and know how plans from the drawing board operate in the real world.
Its an advisory function the candidates to replace Kennedy in the Oct. 14 election want to keep. A week of early voting begins Saturday.
For the past nine years, lawmakers have juggled a financial system that fails to raise enough revenues to pay the bills each year. Theyre heading into another crisis when $1 billion in sales taxes, passed to bridge a previous deficit, expires on June 30.
Cutting a third of the states services would plunge the state into a Third World morass. Raising taxes is equally untenable.
Barras wanted something that would lower the deficit to a point that a combination of spending cuts and revenue enhancements wouldnt be nearly as dramatic.
The Barras mechanism would take about 3 percent off the top of the monies for statutory dedications to help repay the states loans, about $400 million annually. Since debt payments are made out of the general operating fund, the maneuver would free about $97 million this fiscal year to pay other expenses.
Edwards Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne said initially he was intrigued. We discussed this at length and we were very interested, he said last week.
But as is often the case in governance, simple solutions dont always hold up to the constant pounding of the governments engine.
Dardenne said money from taxes, royalties and fees are deposited onto a metaphorical conveyor belt as deposited. Cash goes first into the Bond Security and Redemption Fund to repay debt mostly loans for roads, bridges and buildings until filled, then the money can be used for other purposes.
Statutory dedications are fees think hunting licenses imposed on people who use a service and the fees pay for that service. But that money doesnt come in as predictably as taxes.
One of the big technicalities is how those dollars are accounted for once the $400 million pot is filled?
The idea was tried during the late 1980s under Gov. Buddy Roemer, but quickly abandoned because the mechanics were so difficult, Dardenne said.
Treasurer Ron Henson, who took over from Kennedy in January until the elections, focused more on the Wall Street reaction. The big New York investors underwrite the states loans and they wondered, anxiously, why Louisiana leaders were messing with the system that guarantees the loans are paid first.
Its not a totally bad idea, particularly in theory. There are some difficulties in implementation, Henson said. He discussed those concerns with Barras and the matter was quietly dropped during the last legislative session.
But its not gone.
As late as Thursday, Barras said his idea will reemerge, though its not playing a role in the current negotiations with the governor.
Were working through the mechanics and technicalities, Barras said. We will address it again with the new treasurer.
He may find allies among the candidates for state treasurer, at least among the three major Republicans.
We have to follow the law, said former state Rep. John Schroder, R-Covington. The mechanics may be difficult with the current technology, but that shouldnt be the reason you dont follow the law.
State Sen. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, said the state must pay down its debt.
Thats most important. This has some technical issues that need to be worked out, Riser said. I am for whatever it takes to pay down our obligations.
Former Commissioner of Administration Angele Davis, R-Baton Rouge, said she would review the plan carefully. However, taxpayers should be assured that I wont take any action, whether the Legislature likes it or not, that may put the states credit rating at further risk.
Democratic candidate Derrick Edwards, of New Orleans, did not respond to queries seeking his input.
Transparency and accountability underpin effective and efficient public policy, political probity and good corporate governance all of which are involved in the government's proposed overhaul of political influence laws, a response primarily to concerns about clandestine and insidious meddling in Australia by the Chinese Communist Party.
There is good reason to toughen and update protections against foreign interference. Our laws were set up to protect against Cold War-style spying, not the "sub-espionage" level of commercial and institutional skulduggery that has emerged in recent decades along with globalisation.
Unlocking secrets involves more than Cold War-style spying. Credit:Tanya Lake
Attorney-General George Brandis has been given evidence by Australia's intelligence officials of lobbyists associated with the Chinese government attempting to influence decisions by local, state and federal governments. Chinese interests have also cultivated commercial and lobbying affiliations with former Australian politicians. Chinese tertiary students have become a leading source of export revenue for Australia, and universities are under scrutiny over commercial partnerships with enterprises linked to the Chinese government.
After a series of Fairfax Media investigations into improper external influence on Australian politics, Senator Brandis travelled to Washington in July for briefings about US legislation that curbs pernicious activities by "foreign agents". The laws require those working or lobbying for foreign powers to make full public disclosures. Australia is also looking at emulating the US by creating a publicly available register of foreign agents. That would seem well advised, does not encroach on anyone's rights and is in keeping with the principles of transparency and accountability.
"Most of the criticism has been based on misinformation": Jennifer Buckingham, the lead author of the report. Credit:Brendan Esposito The Australian Education Union argued the government needs to focus on adequate resources so schools can help vulnerable kids, rather than more testing. "It's an astonishing thing to be doing, quite frankly," president Correna Haythorpe said. Meanwhile, Queensland Education Minister Kate Jones described the test idea as an "insult to all education sectors". Grade 1 students from Bentleigh West Primary School in Melbourne are tested on phonics. Credit:Joe Armao All of this has left Buckingham, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies, scratching her head.
"The thing that has surprised me the most is the knee-jerk reaction," she says. "Most of the criticism has been based on misinformation." Nikki Burrows says she was amazed to hear daughter Goldie talking about the strategies she was learning for reading words: "That blew me away." Credit:Joe Armao Buckingham explains what is being proposed will only take between 10 and 15 minutes. And because it will be done with a teacher the student already knows, children are unlikely to even realise they are being assessed, as they often work like this with teachers during class. Buckingham adds that while there is already testing across different states and school systems, there is no nationally consistent process in the early years of schooling. And this means there are gaps. "We're not getting enough kids across the bridge to literacy at the developmentally appropriate time," says report co-author Pamela Snow. Credit:Joe Armao
"The first time we have any national assessment is in year 3 [with the NAPLAN test]," she says. "Year 3 is actually very late to intervene if there is a problem." The NSW Department of Education is already introducing mandatory one-on-one literacy and numeracy assessments at the beginning of Kindergarten to identify the "skills of students on entry to school". The Best Start Kindergarten Assessment will begin being rolled out across primary schools from term 1 next year, with all schools to implement it by 2019.
The NSW strategy is focusing on "an explicit and systematic approach to teaching reading, including the use of phonics", but does not exclusively assess children's understanding of phonics. There are plenty of kids who are having problems. About one in 20 year 3 students did not meet the national minimum standard for reading or numeracy in 2016. According to the Program for International Student Assessment in 2015, 18 per cent of Australian 15-year-olds were low performers in reading proficiency by international standards. More than 20 per cent of 15-year-olds were low performers in mathematical literacy. The literacy component of the proposed test would focus on "phonics" or decoding words, which Buckingham says is a strong predictor of later reading ability. The report recommends that Australia model its phonics assessment on Britain's test, which lists real and "pseudo" words like "vap" and "osk" and asks students to pronounce them to see if they understand how language is made up.
One of the report's co-authors, La Trobe Rural Health School head, professor Pamela Snow, says it is vital students are taught to decode words as part of their literacy education. This represents a shift away from a 40-year emphasis on "whole language" a view that children pick up reading as naturally as they do talking, and would learn it by being exposed to writing and memorising words. Snow is firmly of the view that effective phonics teaching has been a casualty of the so-called (and long-running) "reading wars". She says phonics teaches children the component parts of words, so children can work out what they are reading. Snow says while it can be easier for children to memorise their way through reading in the early years of school, once words become longer and less familiar, they need a system to fall back on. "We're not getting enough kids across the bridge to literacy at the developmentally appropriate time," Snow says. Nikki Burrows has seen the benefits of phonics instruction first hand with her two children, Lochie, who is in year 4, and Goldie, who is in year 1. The children attend Bentleigh West Primary School in south-east Melbourne, which introduced a phonics program and year 1 check in 2015. This means Goldie has had specific phonics education since the start of her schooling, while Lochie has not. Burrows says she was amazed to hear Goldie talking about the strategies she was learning for reading words, such as "g makes a soft sound when followed by e, i or y": "That blew me away."
Goldie is now reading at above-average level and Burrows wishes Lochie could have had the same opportunity. He has a "really good memory" and it took until the first NAPLAN test to reveal he needed extra help with reading. "None of us had any idea," Burrows says, adding she wishes they had known earlier. The numeracy element of the tests has attracted much less controversy, perhaps because there isn't a clear plan yet as to how it would be assessed, other than that it would focus on "number sense" and "position/location". Ann Gervasoni is an associate professor in mathematics education at Monash University, who was involved in developing a maths assessment tool used in Victorian schools. She too laments the lack of funding for intervention programs, noting "this is probably the most needed aspect". Gervasoni cautions it is important that assessments don't have a "ceiling" that is, that they can reflect the extent of a child's knowledge, rather than simply assess whether they meet a basic standard.
"In most cases, teachers won't learn anything new [about a student's performance]." Birmingham took the report about testing year 1 students to a meeting of state and territory education ministers last week. Fairfax Media understands some states are surprised the idea is being pushed by the federal government now, when David Gonski has been tasked with reviewing how school funding should be used to improve student outcomes and isn't due to report until March next year. Apart from Queensland and Western Australia, who have already indicated an unwillingness to introduce the tests, there has been a range of reactions from other jurisdictions. Victoria says it will consider the report's findings, NSW says it looks forward to seeing more detail, while ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry is "concerned" by the idea. Not only do Canberra students already undergo testing when they start school, but there is a fear the data could be used like NAPLAN scores, to create league tables (the government says this isn't the plan). "What's needed is a further commitment that jurisdictions could use any test according to their needs and without being ranked on a school-by-school basis," Berry says.
"She's never going to be successful in life." It wasn't the most promising of starts to high school.
My grade eight teacher had discovered that I was terrible at spelling and thought he best raise the matter with my parents - both school teachers - so they could manage my expectations. I was never going to get the Secretary General of the United Nations job when I grew up because I couldn't spell.
We have a long history of linking spelling skills to intelligence, despite evidence to the contrary. Credit:Paul Edmondson/Stocksy
My teacher was right about my spelling. Despite spending hours on spelling drills and memorising every spelling rule, it was still woeful.
Still, it came as shock to my 12-year-old self that my entire future would be decided by whether or not I could remember all the exceptions to the rule "i before e except after c".
Police are urging motorists not to leave children unattended in vehicles as temperatures soar for the second straight day.
The warning comes after police broke into a 42-year-old man's car after he allegedly left his three-year-old son inside the vehicle while he visited a licensed premises in Sydney's south-west on Saturday afternoon.
The alleged incident came as temperatures soared to 32.2 degrees on Saturday afternoon.
"Police would like to remind motorists that it is unsafe in any circumstances to leave a child unattended in a vehicle," a police spokesperson said.
Temperatures inside the car could have reached as high as 70 degrees in as little as five minutes, police said.
Firefighters remained at the charred shell of a Virginia factory on Monday morning where a huge fire had broken out at the weekend, shrouding the city in smoke.
An emergency situation was declared on Sunday afternoon after a fire destroyed the commercial factory in Brisbane's north, sending toxic smoke billowing into the air.
Firefighters brought the fire under control after 5pm at the warehouse, just off busy Sandgate Road at Virginia, but continued to fight the blaze long after. On Monday they were still hosing down the area to prevent reignition.
A police exclusion zone was reduced about 7.30pm and smoke-affected residents advised they could finally leave their homes after close to four hours inside.
Queensland Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls has voted in favour of same-sex marriage but said it was a difficult decision.
The LNP leader told reporters in Brisbane on Sunday he had filled out his postal survey earlier that morning, after a lot of "interesting" discussions with his wife and three teenage children.
Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls has announced he voted in favour of same-sex marriage. Credit:AAP/Dan Peled
"This has been really hard for me," he said.
"I come from a traditional marriage, a traditional background."
"Don't stuff it up and keep it going, it's a nice business to be in," was the advice Alister Haigh's father gave to him when he handed over control of Haigh's Chocolates to Alister and his brother Simon Haigh.
"At a company birthday he announced Simon and I were becoming joint managing directors with no prior discussion or anything else," says Alister Haigh.
Alister Haigh's father warned him not to stuff things up. Credit:Daniel Kalisz
Succession planning is much more structured these days at the iconic chocolate company which employs 500 staff and turns over $60 million a year.
Speaking at the Family Business Australia Conference in Hamilton Island last month, Alister Haigh and his daughter Emily Haigh, described the processes they have put in place to ensure a smooth handover when the time comes.
She eventually secured $3.5 million in seed funding. Tamar Krebs founded dementia and aged-care enterprise Group Homes Australia in 2012. "We run group homes for people living with dementia. Each house contains anywhere between six to 10 residents people living with dementia and end-of-life care needs. "Our residents live in the local community and get involved in everything. It's a social model not an institutional model like the big nursing homes." Deb Noller is the founder of Switch Automation.
The company has 10 homes in Sydney, with plans to expand to Queensland, Victoria and Adelaide. Group Homes Australia's revenue comes from fees paid by the residents of between $70,000 and $150,000 a year. Krebs says part of that is government subsidised. The company has 45 residents. Building resilience I would literally get shut down within minutes because the investor was not interested in our space. Deb Noller Julie Demsey, general manager of SBE Australia, says resilience is the fundamental answer to overcoming rejection.
SBE Australia is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting women-led tech companies to grow and scale their businesses. "Rejection from investors is not unique to female founders, every start-up will get knockbacks. "Males and females may handle and respond to that differently, so we help our female founders to practise and re-practise the pitch. "Keep trying, find another way. Just own your right to be there and focus on your business and your numbers because you know your business and your market better than anyone else." Don't take it personally
Deb Noller, chief executive of Switch Automation and alumnus of SBE Australia's Springboard Enterprises Australia Accelerator, says constant rejection can be demoralising but one must learn not to take it personally. Sydney-based Switch Automation, which has an office in San Francisco, is a platform for smart and connected buildings. "We connect data, systems, sub-systems and devices with people who own and operate portfolios of buildings, so they can make intelligent fact-based decisions." Noller says she still deals with rejection. "They say you pitch 1000 times before you get funded. I think I have easily got 500 pitches and investment conversations under my belt. "We were successful in funding in 2015 with a $US2.2 million seed round and we are $US2 million into a $US3 million-$5 million bridging round." She says in the beginning, nobody was interested in her industry. "I would literally get shut down within minutes because the investor was not interested in our space."
She says lately, enterprise platforms are where the investment crowd is heading. "The previous 10 years were dominated by apps and consumer tech. "In the end, your results speak for themselves so the only thing you can do is keep getting the wins and demonstrate the traction." She says her business is building three times year on year. "We will be $US100 million in less than four years." Learning on the way Brisbane-based Chris Rolls, who runs venture capital company PieLAB Venture Partners, has sat on both sides of the table.
When Rolls was raising capital for technology-enabled property management business Rental Express, one of the four companies he started and subsequently sold, he says they already had revenue as they were managing about 600 properties. "We thought it would be good if we had more money so we could expand quickly and potentially buy up other agencies. So, it was more of an acquisition strategy for growth." He says looking back, his first pitch was "frankly quite immature. I did not have a clear plan. We didn't even ask for a set amount of money." Rolls says with every rejection he learnt something. He did about 10 presentations before he secured $300,000 from an external investor. Another $1.1 million was raised from internal employees, followed by $600,000 also from the latter. After he sold Rental Express, Rolls thought rather than starting again from scratch, he would invest in businesses. In 2016 he created PieLAB Venture Partners.
"We invest in technology businesses that provide products and services to the real estate industry." He says PieLAB Venture Partners manages the $20 million Real Estate Industry Venture Capital Fund of which 70 per cent of the capital has already been raised from investors. Rolls says when entrepreneurs are looking for investment, they must be clear on what their business model is and they should know their numbers. "Investors want to know how many customers have you got, how much money are they paying you, and how quickly you are growing." He says an entrepreneur should understand who the competition is. "No investor is going to invest in a business without also looking at who the competitors are."
A track record as an entrepreneur is also important, he says. Rolls says don't place too much emphasis on forecasts. "The most astute investors take forecasts with a grain of salt. What they want to know is, is the market that you are in big enough to create a valuable business." He says many entrepreneurs pitch before they are ready. "But I also don't think that's not necessarily a bad thing. "If you wait until your pitch is perfect, and your documentation is perfect, and your traction is perfect, then you might be too late. "You have got to make some mistakes in order to learn."
It was the first place Europeans settled in Victoria in 1803, but intensive development took a long time to reach Sorrento.
Now, Point Nepean Road comes to a dead stop as tourists flood the peninsula each summer, forming long queues for fish and chips. As development becomes more concentrated, even the Continental Hotel, built in 1872, is planning apartments.
The proposed Sorrento ferry terminal. Credit:Searoad Ferries
And some locals worry that the expensive seaside township's summer crush is about to get even worse, with plans to expand the Sorrento ferry terminal.
"Sorrento has just become a shemozzle," says Catherine O'Byrne.
Madrid: At secret locations across Catalonia, activists have hidden the ballot boxes they plan to deploy in an illegal referendum on independence.
Those stashes are just one element in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse as the separatists try to deliver a vote on October 1 in defiance of the Spanish authorities. Police have already raided local businesses and Catalan government offices as they hunt for the ballot papers and officials suspected of helping organise the polling.
The separatist leaders are pressing on all the same.
"It's impossible for the Civil Guard to find 6400 ballot boxes across almost 1000 towns in Catalonia," Jordi Sanchez, head of the Catalan National Assembly, a pro-independence civic group, says in an interview. "What are they going to do, search individual homes? Where are the search warrants?"
Wellington: The leaders of New Zealand's two main parties will have to court NZ First's Winston Peters to help form government after Saturday's election failed to deliver a clear majority win.
The incumbent National party has 58 seats after Saturday's general election but is short of the 61 needed for a majority in parliament. Labour has 45, the Greens seven and NZ First nine.
The numbers may change when special votes are counted, but NZ First is the kingmaker.
National Party leader Bill English expects a call from Mr Peters in the next few days when they'll talk about the process of negotiating to form a government.
Kurds wave nationalist flags during a rally in Beirut, Lebanon. The September 25 vote has implications for the whole Middle East. Credit:AP (Since we spoke, the KRG's parliament in Erbil has held a snap session to ratify the referendum plan. But the opposition were absent, meaning only 68 of the 111 MPs voted.) At a house in the neighbouring suburb of Wollert, I am welcomed by Samey Barwari, 56, from Dohuk in Iraq's far north, and his daughter Venwar, 31, who admits with a laugh that she came to Australia in utero. But when talk turns to delaying the referendum, her smile disappears. Samey Barwari and his daughter Venwar support the plan for an independence referendum in Kurdish-held areas of northern Iraq. Credit:Darrian Traynor "This is not a party issue," she says. "This is about whether we are going to govern ourselves. You have to start somewhere.
"The Iraqi government cannot govern itself - it is controlled by Iran. When their control of the country broke down [with the fall of Mosul to Islamic State in 2014], they came to us to fix it. We have issues, yes, but let us have them in our own country." For many Kurds, the referendum is overshadowed by questions surrounding the political leadership of the Kurdistan region's president, Massoud Barzani. Credit:AP The elder Barwari has invited some friends over, and they remind me of Saddam Hussein's atrocities against them and his population transfers to "Arabise" Kurdish-majority areas, as well as the more recent failures of the "liberated" Iraq, which promised in its 2005 constitution that disputes over territory between the autonomous KRG and the central government would be resolved by the end of 2007. "We have our own language, our own culture, our land is different," says Sulaiman Barwary (no relation), 48. "Arabs come from the desert and our land is the mountains." November 2016: Kurdish fighters replace the cross on the dome of the Immaculate Cathedral in Qaraqosh, Iraq, after taking the town back from Islamic State. But how would Christian minorities fare in a Kurdish state? Credit:New York Times
The objections to their plans are shrugged off - Kurds are used to being under siege. "I would rather have a failed state than live under the Iraqi regime," says 52-year-old Farsat Dosky, a language consultant. "At least we can guarantee our existence - at least we can survive." It is clear that Barwari is the senior figure. But he is not comfortable joining a busy discussion in English. He asks if he can tell me a story in Arabic. Baghdad, November 2006: Saddam Hussein in court during his trial for genocide against Kurds. Credit:AP He takes me back to April 1991, and the days after the Iraqi army's defeat in Operation Desert Storm. "Forty thousand of Saddam's soldiers laid down their arms in [Iraqi] Kurdistan and we fed them and gave them vehicles for safe passage south," he says. "We don't bear enmity to anyone, not even those who killed us and burned our villages.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says he is prepared to intervene militarily if the referendum results in violence. Credit:AP "If that situation had been reversed, not even 40 of us would have been left alive." The world is used to hearing about tensions between Arabs and Kurds - or the desert and the mountains, if you will - in northern Iraq, but any Kurdish state there would have its own minorities, including the Yazidis and Assyrians. Soldiers sit under the Kurdish flag at a checkpoint on the border of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Credit:Kate Geraghty Nicholas al-Jeloo, 34, an Assyrian Melbourne University academic who also works for the Bureau of Statistics, compares these populations to "powerless children" caught in a divorce. And he talks about another landscape: that of the disputed Nineveh Plains, with its patchwork of ethnicities and villages.
"The atmosphere in northern Iraq is claustrophobic," he says. "The [ruling] KDP is drunk on a lethal cocktail of Baathism, Zionism and Kemalism, and people live in fear of the Asayish [the KRG's internal security force]. "What will happen to those in minorities who vote against independence? Will they be told to go to Iraq? The president of Iraq is a Kurd, the Kurdish language is recognised and appears on Iraq's currency ... do we really need more Balkanisation?" Al-Jeloo is not the only one who sees echoes of Zionism in a unilateral referendum. The father of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, famously said that "if you will it, it is no dream", which was aspirational but can also be read as a warning: once you move from political theory to action, you are confronted with the realities of your locale. A people's political status may change, but its geographical neighbours remain the same. One of the mothers at my son's school spent the first 30 years of her life in Dohuk but is not Kurdish. When I tell her about my interviews, she exclaims: "I swear that until 1991 I didn't know what an ampere was. Then I became an expert in how much you can do with two or four amperes of electricity. It is 26 years [of Kurdish autonomy] now and my little town still doesn't have reliable power or water. How can you talk about independence when the basics are not there? "The north is landlocked," she reminds me. "Don't they [the KRG] see what happened to Qatar, which is a proper state?"
Most of the Kurds I talk to do not believe that a 'Yes' vote will mean independence in the short term. But when I tell Samey Barwari that I worry about a blockade or about Kurds being forcibly displaced to "their" state by surrounding governments, he puts his faith in a surprising ally: Turkey. For some years now, the KRG has been selling oil through a pipeline to Turkey under a 50-year deal signed with Ankara. "There are 700 Turkish companies in the Kurdish region," he tells me. "That door will not close because billions of dollars keep it open." The Kurds opposed to a referendum are troubled by this "door" in particular, with the increasingly authoritarian Recep Tayyip Erdogan at one end and Barzani and his family - who also hold the posts of prime minister and security council chief - at the other.
"Why hasn't there been freedom in Kurdistan?" asks Dilawar Munzir, a 52-year-old from Sulaimaniya who works, like Samey Barwari, as a painter. He says his home town has been targeted with sanctions for dissent against Barzani, and he points to the murder of Kurdish journalists critical of Barzani's regime and its corruption, such as Sardasht Osman and Soran Mama Hama. "This will be Massoud Barzani's referendum, not the people's referendum," he says. Al-Jeloo is also sceptical. "It is naive. Do people believe that the same Turkey which is destroying Kurdish-inhabited towns in its south-east can somehow be trusted to deliver Kurdish independence elsewhere?" Unexpected ally: can the Kurds of Iraq rely on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan? Credit:AP He wonders if the whole referendum isn't just "hot air", designed to give Barzani and his KDP a boost in forthcoming regional elections.
"We don't want to be a backyard of Turkey," Germian says. "We could end up like [the unrecognised Turkish enclave of] Northern Cyprus." The referendum's supporters are fatalistic. Sulaiman Barwary reminds me that for decades "Lebanon was governed by Syria like a puppet ... maybe Turkey will play this role with us for a while". Mayda Ziabari, a 25-year-old born in northern Iran, admits she is troubled by the vote's timing and worried that things will not "happen properly". "I'm not sure we should be alienating our key ally," she says, referring to Washington, which arms the KRG and provides it with billions in aid. "Also Daesh [IS] is still there - we haven't dealt with that." But for her the governance issue is less of a concern: "I have faith in my generation and the next generation there."
On 14 October of 2016 the Aussie investing world, well aware of the stunning performance of medical marijuana stocks in the US and Canada, awoke to the news of the Narcotic Drugs Regulation 2016; an act opening the door for the production and licensing of marijuana for scientific and medical purposes here in Australia.
The race to cash in on the green rush was on. Less than one week later an article appearing in the Sydney Morning Herald entitled Pot Stock Soars after Medical Marijuana Legislation reported the 14% rise in the share price of newly listed Creso Pharma (CPH) on its first day of trading. New entrants flooded the market, with at least 14 pot stocks currently trading on the ASX and more on the way.
Flash forward to 17 March of this year for another pot stock article in the SMH; this one entitled Medical Cannabis Stocks are All the Rage, but Its Still a Bubble. A few days before the article appeared ASX investors were treated to a classic example of bubble investing.
Stem Cell United (SCU), a tiny company working on medicinal treatments extracted from plants, announced its intention to enter the medical marijuana market, appointing a well-known expert in the field as a strategic adviser. Investors reacted with a buying frenzy bordering on the manic.
The share price shot up from one $0.01 to $0.40, a staggering increase of 3,900%. Despite its dramatic fall, the current share price of $0.025 remains more than double its pre-announcement price.
The entire ASX marijuana (cannabis) sector is now in full retreat, although most stocks are still trading above their entry price but well off the lofty heights propelled by a stampede of hungry investors. The following table lists the price action of 14 ASX stocks engaged in some form in the marijuana or cannabis sector.
Keep in mind that the majority of these companies listed this year. The earliest listing was MMJ Phytotech (MMJ), listing in 2015. The rapidity and depth of the rise and fall in stock price suggests the possibility some, if not many, investors jumped in based on hot sector membership rather than any semblance of due diligence. While all these companies are members of the newly named cannabis sector, they have widely varying business models. To sort through the maze, investors need to first pay attention to the problem the companys product addresses and the size of the target market. While this may seem obvious, consider the number of investors jumping into a company Stemcell United with no qualifying factor other than an intent to move into medical marijuana and the addition of a strategic advisor.
The following graph from the US based market research company Grand View Research paints a bullish future for medical marijuana.
Add the increasingly legal sales of recreational marijuana to the mix and the outlook becomes even brighter. In 2013 retail cannabis sales in U.S. amounted to about US$1.6 billion, with a forecasted rise to a high of US$8.2 billion by 2018, with more than half of the total coming from recreational sales. Although it may be a long time coming, there is a move afoot to legalise marijuana for recreational use here in Australia. Some of these companies have operations or expansion plans into the US, where recreational marijuana is already legal in some states; and into Canada, where recreational marijuana may be legalised within a year.
Several of these companies are incorporating medical cannabis into existing, and sometimes complementary, operations, targeting a variety of medical conditions. Others are starting fresh focusing on growing and cultivation. A few are suppliers of growing systems while others are pursuing cosmetic uses.
The largest stock on the ASX by market cap, TPI Enterprises (TPE) is a grower and supplier of Narcotic Raw Material (NRM) for use by the global pharmaceutical industry. The company listed in 2015 and grew revenues from $2.1 million in that year to $7.2 million in FY 2016 but has yet to show a profit. In its 29 May Annual General Meeting the company announced its expansion into medicinal cannabis with a licensing application pending and a search for partners in process.
With an initial focus on the lucrative Canadian market, MMJ Phytotech is pursuing a farm to pharma business model with its triad of business units. The company acquired two subsidiaries from Canadas Harvest One Capital Corp along with a 60% interest in Harvest Ones two existing cannabis brands already in operation. The subsidiaries provide MMJ with growing facilities through United Greeneries in Canada; and research and development and manufacturing through Satipharm, a developer and manufacturer of cannabis-based health products with distribution partnerships in place. Satipharm has a patented oral delivery system the Gelpell Microgel Capsule. MMJ also has 100% ownership in an Israeli-based company working on cannabis-based therapeutics for commercial distribution Phytotech. MMJ is a stock to watch, with two Phase 2 Clinical Trials underway for pain relief using the Gelpell system.
The first pot stock granted a commercial growing license in Australia Cann Group (CAN) listed on 4 May and is the best performer in terms of stock price to date, increasing close to 90% since listing.
In addition to the growers license the company has two cannabis research permits for breeding and cultivation research program in conjunction with the federal governments CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research). To further boost investor confidence Cann Group has attracted the interest of Canadian medical marijuana producer and distributor, Aurora Cannabis Inc., with that company acquiring a 19.9% interest in the Cann Group.
Another 2015 listing, Medlab Clinical (MDC), is a bio-therapeutic medical research and development company with 31 products already on the market; many of them nutraceuticals, which are treatments extracted from natural sources such as Omega acids and probiotics. The company has turned its attention to medical marijuana, ideally suited to Medlabs NanoCelle Medicine Delivery Platform. On 22 February of this year the company announced it was nearing completion of the required steps to begin Australias first clinical trial incorporating cannabis into the companys delivery system to use for pain relief in oncology patients. With federal approvals in place, Medlab is awaiting clearance from Canadian authorities to receive the cannabis needed for the trial from that country.
Medlab is generating revenues but has yet to show a profit. The company has no plans to grow, cultivate, or research new applications. On 19 June Medlab received HREC (Human Research Ethics Committee) approval to begin the trials with two different medicines. The Medlab treatments, if successful, will be classified as clinical medicines, not medical cannabis treatments.
Auscann Group Holdings (AC8) has a Canadian partner Canopy Growth with an 11% stake from whom Auscann will import Canopys existing pain relief product line for distribution in Australia while the company pursues development of its own pain relief treatments. The company also has a joint venture partnership arrangement with Chilean marijuana grower Daya Cann. With cultivation licenses already in place in Tasmania and Western Australia, at the beginning of August the Office of Drug Control awarded Auscann a licence to manufacture medicinal cannabis products in Australia.
Creso Pharma (CPH) differs from the other pot stocks in that it focuses on animal treatments in addition to its plant-based (hemp) nutraceuticals and cannabis based treatments for the treatment of anxiety, epilepsy, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, and osteoporosis in humans. The company has a development agreement in place with Domaco, a Swiss based food and pharma development company.
Zelda Therapeutics (ZLD) is a bio-technology company formed for the purpose of studying the uses of medicinal cannabis to treat a variety of ailments, with pre-clinical trials underway for breast, brain and pancreatic cancers and clinical trials on sleep disorders, insomnia, eczema and other dermatologic conditions.
Three of the remaining companies MGC Pharmaceuticals (MXC), Botanix Pharmaceuticals (BOT), and BOD Australia (BDA) are expanding their focus on skin care and dermatology products to include cannabis based treatments.
The Hydroponics Company (THC) and Roto-Gro International (RGI) both offer hydroponic growing systems for marijuana cultivation. The share price of both companies has fallen below the first day trading price.
The last and smallest pot stock in the table is Israeli-based Esense-Lab (ESE) that might best be described as a technology company focusing on pharmaceuticals. The self-description found on the companys website claims its purpose is Reverse Engineering Mother Nature to create natural plant-based products that heal and delight.
Esense-Labs complex technology extracts terpenes from plants for use in medicinal products, with cannabis medical treatments as its first target. The stock has not performed well, perhaps due to complexities of its manufacturing process. In essence, the company can make a cannabis treatment which contains no cannabis. It does this by extracting terpenes from a cannabis plant, or any plant for that matter, and reverse engineering a plant profile with the resultant flavour, fragrance, and other characteristics 99.9% similar to the original plant. After a hot start, investors may have awoken to the challenges facing this potentially disruptive technology entering a brutally competitive market.
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There are none so blind as those who will not see.
This phrase may have religious roots, but there is no better way to describe the dominant sect in economics today than as wilfully blind. A decade after the 2007-08 crisis, most still repeat the mantra that it could not have been predicted.
Nonsense. The data that showed what would cause the crisis, and arguments by non-mainstream economists that one would occur, were available before it hit. There was a runaway bubble in asset markets caused by too much credit being created by banks.
Credit your capacity to buy something with money borrowed from a bank, rather than from your own cash is exactly equal to the increase in private debt every year. The bigger this is compared to a countrys GDP (economic output), the more the economy is dependent on credit; and the bigger the accumulated debt is when compared to GDP, the more likely it is that a reduction in credit will cause an economic crisis.
The data is incontrovertible
The data, if you look at it, is incontrovertible especially if you consider the epicentre of the 2008 crisis, the US, in historical context. The Great Depression triggered by the crash of 1929 was preceded by a margin-debt-fuelled bubble on the US stock market, with private debt blowing out during the crisis and then collapsing. Thats exactly what happened in 2007-08 only with mortgage debt also getting in on the act.
Private debt affects the economy in two ways: the higher debt is, relative to GDP, the more that a change in credit impacts on total demand. And credit adds to total demand by allowing people to spend more than just the money they currently have.
The correlation between credit and employment in the US is staggering. This is not just because it is so big (the correlation coefficient is 0.8 on a scale of -1 to +1), but because according to mainstream economists such as Ben Bernanke, the correlation should be close to zero.
Bernanke, who got the job as head of the US central bank because he was supposed to be the expert on what caused the Great Depression, didnt even consider similar data that was available at the time, nor 1930s economist Irving Fishers thesis, which pointed the finger at the bursting of asset bubbles. Bernanke believed that credit should have no significant macroeconomic effects.
Empirically, this is manifestly untrue, but economists turn a blind eye to this data because it doesnt suit their preferred model of how banks operate. They model banks as if they are intermediaries that introduce savers to borrowers, not as originators of both money and debt. This deliberate blindness was, in a sense, excusable before the crisis. But its unforgivable after it especially since central banks are actually coming out now and saying that this Loanable Funds model is a myth.
Central Banks have therefore learnt something from the crisis, but academic economists are, in the main, trying to go backwards to their defence that this crisis could not have been predicted.
Crisis prediction
In fact, it was predicted, by economists who take banks, debt and money seriously, such as Ann Pettifor, Wyne Godley, and me. Using the same analysis today, I dont expect a crisis in the US and UK in the near future. I do expect stagnation like that which Japan has experienced since its asset bubble economy burst back in 1990.
There will be revivals and reversals, but not an outright crisis because a prerequisite for that is very high levels of credit. While the overhang of private debt from the last crisis persists, credit-based demand will be anaemic compared to pre-crisis levels.
Instead, crises are likely in countries which side-stepped trouble in 2007 by continuing their private debt bubbles. The pre-eminent candidate here is China, whose credit bubble is easily the fastest growing in the history of capitalism. It will have the company of South Korea, Canada, Australia, Belgium, and a number of others.
So there wont be another collapse like Northern Rock in the UK or Washington Mutual in the US. But mainstream economists need to quit sticking their heads in the sand over the relationship between private debt bubbles.
The future offers some hope that this is beginning to change. Some prominent mainstreams economists are now doing some serious navel-gazing at their models (people such as ex-president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Narayana Kocherlakota, and chief economist at the World Bank Paul Romer). But more likely change will come from central banks, and the new generation of economists such as the students who established the Rethinking Economics movement to address the real issues the world faces.
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Originally published by The Conversation. Author: Steve Keen. Head of the School of Economics, History & Politics, Kingston University
LERNA -- Along the trail past a wooded area at Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site, Brian "Fox" Ellis pointed out something that had an impact on local history.
"This is the plant that killed Abraham Lincoln's mother," he said to those who'd joined him.
Ellis, a naturalist and historian, showed the group a stand of white snake root, which he said grew after pioneers cleared away forests.
The plant is only mildly toxic, but cows can eat enough of it that their milk can be poisonous to drink, and that's what happened to Nancy Hanks Lincoln, he explained.
The Bishop Hill resident conducted the tour and discussion of plant life during the historic site's annual Harvest Frolic event. It took place Saturday and Sunday with Ellis' presentations one of the new features of this year's activities.
At the time of Nancy Lincoln's death from what was called "milk sick," the plant's connection to milk poisoning wasn't known, Ellis said.
He told how a woman doctor came to Illinois because of few physicians in what was then nearly frontier country.
She conducted an experiment with the help of a Native American woman that showed the connection "but no one believed her," Ellis said. It wasn't until 30 years later that the experiment was replicated and credit given to the two women, he added.
Covering flora from prairie flowers to nut-bearing trees, Ellis explained how early settlers learned from animals and natives about how they could use some plants and that they should avoid others.
"If you were a pioneer here, if you did not know things I'm going to tell you, you would die," he said. "It's not just folklore."
The historic site features the home of Thomas Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's father, and Sarah Bush Lincoln, whom Thomas married after Nancy's death.
Thomas Lincoln was "a nut for nuts," Ellis said during his tour, and would regularly roam the woods in search of them.
"He disappeared for a couple of weeks every fall to hunt nuts," he said.
He also spent time showing people plants, and some insects, that are edible and explaining things such as how ragweed is more to blame for seasonal allergies than the goldenrod some people accuse.
Illinois was once half prairie and the ecosystem is "as rich as a rain forest" in its number of plant species, but most of it is now gone, Ellis also said. He said it's "vital" to protect native prairies but those on public lands are only a small part "so it's up to you in your yards," he said.
Ellis also urged those on the tour to become more familiar themselves with plant life around them, adding that it's not something you have to do all at once.
"Just learn one plant a year," he said. "When you get to me my age, look how much you'll know."
Students, faculty and staff members of Allen Academy celebrated the establishment of the school 132 years ago during a Founder's Day assembly on Sept. 13. Guest speakers included local historian and storyteller Frank Hooks, Allen Military Academy alum Mike Akins and Allen Academy class of 1998 graduate Rusty Baker. Bryan Mayor Andrew Nelson was also on hand to officially proclaim Sept. 13 to be Allen Academy Day.
Thoracic surgeon Jason Muesse has joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Arkansas. He will also be an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery in the UAMS College of Medicine.
Muesse specializes in the surgical treatment of diseases involving the chest, including the lungs, esophagus and chest wall.
Muesse obtained his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Texas A&M University. He earned his medical degree at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine in College Station. After serving his internship and residency in general surgery at Houston Methodist Hospital, he completed fellowship training in thoracic surgery at Emory University in Atlanta. He also completed the American Association for Thoracic Surgery Graham Foundation Surgical Robotics Fellowship in 2017.
Jason is the son of Lily and Leonard Muesse of College Station.
A Nebraska law approved last year with no debate has set the nation's highest bar for independent candidates to qualify for statewide races such as governor and U.S. Senate, contradicting the state's history of downplaying partisan politics.
Critics said the measure was quietly inserted into an omnibus elections law to maintain the Republican party stranglehold on every statewide office.
The measure gained attention because former Republican Sen. Bob Krist this month quit the party to launch an independent run against incumbent Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts in 2018. A lesser-known independent, Doug Whitmore, hopes to run against Republican U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer.
"This is a scare tactic that the parties use to keep people like me from running," Whitmore said.
The law requires nonpartisan candidates in partisan statewide elections to collect signatures from at least 10 percent of the state's registered voters roughly 119,000 people as of August. That's a tall order in the mostly rural state with only two major cities. Previously, candidates in Nebraska needed just 4,000 signatures.
By comparison, 37 other states require 10,000 signatures or fewer to place independent candidates on the ballot, according to an analysis by a national ballot-access activist. No other state has a signature threshold as high as Nebraska's, based on recent voter registrations.
Nebraska prides itself on a system of local elections that do not mention party affiliation on the ballot, but statewide office holders run in partisan elections. Nebraska also has the only unicameral Legislature in the nation and there are no party caucuses, although affiliations are known. The state elected an independent as U.S. Senator in 1936, George Norris.
In modern elections, it is especially hard for a candidate to be elected as a governor or U.S. senator without the backing of the Republican or Democratic party. The best-known independent is Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who ran for president against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary. The only other Senate independent is Angus King of Maine. The only independent governor is Bill Walker of Alaska.
The new Nebraska requirement, introduced by a Republican, Sen. John Murante, was added to an omnibus elections proposal after a hearing in which no one but the measure's sponsor testified. Senators approved the package 45-0, just days before the session was scheduled to end a time when many lawmakers are tired and scrambling to pass last-minute bills.
Some senators said they were surprised to learn the law had been slipped into the larger package.
"I hate to say it, but I think most of us didn't fully appreciate that that was in there," said Sen. Laura Ebke, a Libertarian who has worked to increase ballot access for third parties.
A spokeswoman for Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale, a Republican, said his office took no position on the law. Nebraska Republican Party Executive Director Kenny Zoeller said the party didn't lobby for it.
Krist said he believes the law was "rammed through" the Legislature to help the GOP. To get around the requirement, Krist said he probably will create his own party, rather than run for governor unaffiliated. Parties only need about 5,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot.
"Any time a major party wants to secure its hold on a political base, the last thing it wants is for another party to move in," Krist said.
Murante, who is running for state treasurer, said he didn't introduce the measure to get at any one candidate or party.
He said Nebraska's previous policy made it too easy for independent candidates, who don't face the same rigorous primaries as party hopefuls. Winning a party's nomination sometimes requires candidates to secure more than 100,000 votes, he said.
"Candidates trying to get on the ballot should be held to roughly comparable standards," Murante said.
Nebraska Democratic Party Chairwoman Jane Kleeb said she was unaware of the change but voiced concern.
"It's typical when you have one-party dominance in a state, that the Republican Party feels it can do whatever it wants," she said.
Nebraska's law is "plainly unconstitutional" based on federal court cases in Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio and other states with similar or less stringent requirements, said Richard Winger, a nationally-recognized ballot-access activist.
Winger, who publishes Ballot Access News, said the only legitimate reason for signature thresholds is to keep ballots from getting too crowded. One possible example was California, where a 2003 ballot to recall then-Gov. Gray Davis included 135 candidates.
If the threshold was too low in Nebraska the state would have a bunch of independent candidates, which has not happened, Winger said.
"It's ironic that one of the few states to elect an independent would do this," Winger said.
You have a character that goes through the scrutiny of being sexualised , and then an audience that does the same thing.
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Any interruption in Northeast Corridor rail service for a single day would cost the U.S. economy $100 million, according to estimates published last spring by the Connecticut Department of Transportation in support of its plans to replace Norwalks decrepit Walk Bridge.
As for the economic costs to Norwalk businesses as the bridge is replaced over a five-year span? That is anyones guess not to mention where business owners might go looking for any possible remuneration to keep the Northeast Corridor operating without a hitch.
In a project expected to cost $995 million, the Connecticut Department of Transportation is leading the replacement of the 121-year-old Walk Bridge in Norwalk, a rail bridge with four tracks that swings to allow boats to pass on the Norwalk River and connects to an elevated track running through the heart of South Norwalk.
The Walk Bridge is considered a critical piece of infrastructure to keep the Northeast transportation network running smoothly, with some 200 trains and 125,000 rail passengers traversing it daily, and ridership projected to double within 50 years.
With input from the Federal Transit Administration and Metro-North Railroad, Connecticut DOT considered nearly 70 options to replace the bridge, ultimately choosing a vertical-lift span with tower heights of up to 140 feet, allowing for vertical clearance of 27 feet when closed and 60 feet when elevated; and providing a 200-foot-wide river channel.
The design was chosen in part for offering the shortest construction schedule compared to alternatives.
Facing disruptions
The DOT opted for a phased construction schedule over five years with an eye on minimizing disruptions to commuters, residents and businesses, with preliminary track work already under way in East Norwalk and Westport advanced utility work to begin early next year and major construction starting in 2019 on the span itself.
But disruptions have already occurred A.J. Penna & Sons excavation contracting yard was uprooted for a Walk Bridge staging area and more are on the way, to include the future relocation of the Maritime Aquariums iMax Theater. Next year, South Norwalk traffic will be rerouted in both the spring and fall as a rail bridge on Ann Street is replaced as part of the project.
Given its regional importance, the Walk Bridge replacement has more than a few business owners and residents in Norwalk voicing the belief that they should be able to apply for federal or state remuneration for the impact of construction on the neighborhood.
In response to a Hearst Connecticut Media query, a Connecticut DOT spokesman indicated compensation for business losses are not covered under existing federal regulations on projects that cause disruption. He added Connecticut DOT has in the past referred businesses that have been displaced by projects to the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development or the federal Small Business Administration for additional assistance.
DECD has a number of programs to support small businesses, including a Small Business Express program that can award grants or loans on a need-based basis and an Urban Act grant program with wide latitude for varying projects. None are set up specifically, however, to address business disruption as a result of big capital projects that are critical to the larger region.
Speaking last week to members of the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce, DECD Commissioner Catherine Smith urged business owners to make your voices heard and to be specific in any requests, while offering no immediate indication that state or federal agencies had any avenue for them to apply for compensation.
Dont just tell us you need the money what do you need the money for? Smith said. Its very challenging to know what exactly you need. You have to be that (specific).
Seeking help
Several economic development planning agencies nationally reference a 2010 study by a researcher at the University of Wisconsin, who, on behalf of the city of Milwaukee which has an economy nearly identical in size to the Bridgeport-Norwalk-Stamford corridor surveyed cities nationally on how they went about mitigating the impact of major construction projects. Only two, Kansas City, Mo., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, reported setting up direct compensation for businesses, and only in cases in which construction extended well beyond the scheduled end date, or involved unexpected street closures.
A half-dozen cities more offered loans to help businesses ride out the construction period, with San Jose, Calif., opting to eliminate the program due to small businesses receiving the funds proving likely to fail despite the infusions.
On Wednesday, South Norwalk businesses will get the opportunity to weigh in on the project in a Connecticut DOT forum, with the agency webcasting the proceeding on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WalkBridgeCT. Connecticut DOT has also taking feedback online at www.walkbridgect.com/contact, via email at info@walkbridgect.com, or in person weekdays at the Connecticut DOT Office of Engineering at 2800 Berlin Turnpike in Newington.
Robert Koch contributed to this report.
Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman
Two words to avoid if you ever work for Jennifer Tombaugh: I cant.
Tombaugh, president of Wilton-based luxury travel company Tauck, doesnt want to hear it. Figure it out, she says. Get help if needed, but figure it out.
I believe our attitude controls how high you can go, she said. One of my pet peeves is hearing people say: I cant do that. There are solutions and different ways of getting things done. I find that people are pretty creative when faced with a challenge. They can come up with solutions.
Not that the 49-year-old mother of four would show anger toward a co-worker if she did hear those dreaded words. Her disposition is too positive for that. After all, she was a co-creator of YES, or Youre Extra Special, back in her high school days in West Virginia and traveled the country spreading positive vibes to other schools.
More likely, she would gather others with knowledge of the problem and get them in a room together.
Now Playing: Interview with Jennifer Tombaugh, President of Tauk Discovery Tours Video: Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media
Im not necessarily the smartest person in the room, but I think Im good at getting smart people in the room and figuring out how to get to an answer, she said from her modest-size, glass-walled office at Tauck headquarters.
A graduate of Harvard and Harvard Business School, her collaborative leadership style has led her to become the first person outside of the Tauck family to be named president of the company, which traces its roots back to 1924. It is a responsibility she does not take lightly.
Its a humbling position. Im the first non-family president, so I have big shoes to fill, she said. Its a little terrifying sometimes when you think about being a position that Arthur may have been in or Robin or Peter Tauck, or Dan (Mahar). I feel very blessed to be part of this organization and be part of the team here.
Tauck grows
Arthur Tauck founded the company 93 years ago when he took guests with him on a sales call to northern Massachusetts. Tauck was selling coin trays he invented himself. The trays were a big hit and are still by used by banks today, but it was his travel business that took off and charted the course for the rest of his life and that of his family.
What started as a business doing tours of New England foliage has blossomed into a company offering luxury tours to more than 70 countries and all seven continents.
While travel companies consolidate all around them, Tauck remains a family business fiercely committed to its clients and employees. Robin and Peter Tauck are former company presidents, Liz Tauck Walters is a board member and Kiki Tauck Mahar helped launch the Tauck Bridges division. Dan Mahar, Kikis husband, remains the CEO after shedding his president title when he moved to Rochester, N.Y., to be near family.
That opened the door for Tombaugh to take over day-to-day responsibilities at the companys headquarters, which employs about 150 people. She joined the company 16 years ago after returning from a stint working for advertising agency Leo Burnett Worldwide in Taiwan. She went to Taiwan to be with her then-boyfriend Phil Tombaugh, who is now her husband. He is a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Thats the best way to learn about a country, she said of her experience working in Taiwan. I still miss southeast Asia.
When they returned to the U.S. after working in Taiwan and backpacking around Asia for six months, the couple faced a crossroads. Tombaugh considered returning to the beverage industry, but travel especially adventure travel called to her.
Seeing the world
Tombaugh interviewed with several travel companies and most of them wanted to talk about exit strategies. When she interviewed with Tauck, she recalls Peter Tauck being moved to tears talking about a travel experience he had with his father, Arthur.
I walked out of the interview thinking this is an entirely different type of company, she said.
Mahar was part of the interview, as well, and decided to hire Tombaugh, initially putting her in charge of launching Tauck Bridges, which would become the companys highly successful division for multigenerational travelers.
I hired her and it was one of the best things Ive ever done, Mahar said. Her positive attitude is infectious and inspires people. Shes very humble and that fits in well with her desire to serve others, which is important here at Tauck.
Tombaugh started in May 2001, four months before 9/11. Tauck had thousands of guests traveling throughout the world at the time. She remembers Arthur Tauck addressing the employees on Sept. 12.
He told us: You take care of the guests and well take care of you. And I thought, Ill never go work for another company because who says that in this day and age, she said. Its all about the people: the guests and the employees. Thats been true in every decision weve made over the past 16 years since Ive been here and really since the company first began.
Since joining Tauck, Tombaugh has led various innovations at the company, traveled around the world, and had four children, who are now 13, 11 and twin 8-year-olds. Her family has twin white Labrador retrievers. She commutes along the Merritt Parkway from her home in New Haven, but first gets her children off to school and arranges the rest of their day.
Her organizational and communication skills go beyond what she does at Tauck, Mahar said. Shes very busy, but she handles it with a lot of grace.
Humble beginnings
She said her love of travel and humble nature come from her parents. She grew up in Fairmont, W.Va., the hometown of Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton. Tombaughs father did not graduate from high school and worked as a school bus driver before becoming an insurance salesman in the small mining town. He worked hard to win incentive trips so the family could travel.
We didnt have a lot of money, but if we had the opportunity to spend a little bit, it was always on travel, she said. Though that, it instilled in me the value of travel and the importance it plays in bringing families together. The history, the experiences you can have from it it really changed me as a person.
While serving on the student council in high school, she and friend created Youre Extra Special, a program that encouraged student leaders to create an environment of community and being a part of something bigger than themselves.
The message seemed to resonate in our little state of West Virginia and we were asked to speak at conferences around the country, she said. Its something I still believe in today.
The attitude flew in the face of what many people outside West Virginia thought of the Mountain State. As much as Tombaugh dislikes hearing I cant, she enjoys hearing You cant, because that creates the opportunity to prove she can.
When you grow up in West Virginia, people dont think you can do anything, she said. Ive heard all the jokes. Especially if youre a girl from West Virginia, they really dont think you can do anything. My dad was a big believer in that people can do anything because he did it. Its a whats-your-excuse kind of thing.
No excuses needed for Tombaugh. I cant is not part of her belief system.
cbosak@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3338
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NORWALK A young woman is scheduled to check into the Open Door Shelter Monday, but it wont her first time there.
Shes someone who is coming in who was here as a child, said Open Door Executive Director Jeannette Acher-Simons. Shes on our list to come in on Monday. Thats a hard thing to see because now shes a parent with her own children. We dont want kids following in their parents footsteps and yet it happens often. Its going to be interesting to see if we can end that cycle.
Its a cycle advocates are hoping to break as they begin targeting one of the more vulnerable, underserved and hard to locate homeless populations youth.
But tracking down homeless youth defined as those under 25 can be a difficult task, even though homeless counts are conducted annually by surveying those living in shelters and on the streets.
People realized we were under counting because youth are more hidden, Archer-Simons said. Theyre moving from place to place to place, and sometimes theyre afraid of coming forward because they think theyll have to switch schools or theyll get put in a home ... were more aware of where the youth are staying and what the issues are because were having this conversation and looking for the youth and working together to identify where theyre staying and what the issues are.
In its first statewide youth count in 2015, the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness identified 3,000 homeless and unstably housed youth. A second, more comprehensive youth count was held this January, and those results were given to a demographer who estimated 4,396 young people were homeless or in unstable housing at that time.
In Norwalk, an estimated 124 young people are homeless or unstably housed. Other area towns are estimated to have fewer than five each.
Instead of using shelters, young people are likely to stay with friends, to couch surf, or to sleep in cars, abandoned buildings or the open air. They dont use social services as much as older homeless adults.
The state has a goal of ending homelessness for anyone under 25 years old by 2020. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development started requiring states to collect data about youth homelessness this year.
During the statewide youth count in January, volunteers including youth who had been homeless in the past surveyed nearly 2,300 people across the state and identified 439 youth who were homeless or unstably housed. The majority were 18 to 24 years old, and the average age was 20.
Fifty-two percent of those counted were male and 43 percent female. Forty-three percent reported involvement with the state Department of Children and Families, 23 percent identified as LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual) and 23 percent indicated they were parenting or pregnant.
When asked where they slept on the night of Jan. 24, the majority said they had stayed with a friend.
Eighteen percent said someone had encouraged, pressured or forced them to exchange sexual acts for money, drugs, food, a place to stay, clothing or protection.
Youth-specific services lacking
Like many cities in Connecticut, Norwalk has no services specifically for homeless youth, Archer-Simons said.
Young people need different resources to be successful than other single adults, she added, the first being that many youth dont need a permanent housing intervention. They need a stable place to live as they are in school, beginning work, or determining their future, but will, in many cases, only need that intervention for a short period.
But, she said Fairfield County is at the forefront of collective impact work to bring resources together to assist homeless youth populations.
We actually have a reputation nationwide as being far ahead of the rest of the country, Archer-Simons said. Fairfield county is begin used as a role model ... were finding ways to break through system challenges. We understand what each group brings to the table, and support the data they collect. I think it really has allowed us to work more effectively together. We all need to realize were not experts at everything so we need to ask for help.
Connecticut hopes to bolster its youth-specific homelessness resources using new state-funded programs and a $6.6 million grant from the federal government.
The state Department of Housing is accepting applications for the two state-funded programs one that provides money for supportive housing for homeless youth and another that helps pay for improvements to existing homeless shelters, with a priority for renovations that will better accommodate young adults.
The federal grant will be used to create new housing with support service programs to serve youth experiencing homelessness.
Connecticut was one of only 10 areas in the nation selected by HUD to receive this award from more than 130 applicants. The state received the largest allocation of any grantee under this program.
Dan Arsenault, spokesman for the state Department of Housing, said state officials are creating a detailed plan for the money, which the state expects to submit to HUD this fall.
Arsenault said the goal is to be certified by the federal government as having effectively ended youth homelessness. Achieving this goal does not mean youth in the state will never again experience homelessness, he said, but the state has built a system to ensure episodes of youth homelessness are brief, rare and non-recurring.
Arsenault said several initiatives have been undertaken since 2011 to prevent and end homelessness.
In February 2016, Connecticut was the second state to receive certification to have effectively ended veteran homelessness, and in December, the state met its own goal of matching all chronically homeless people to housing.
What was once only a dream ending homelessness across all populations is now within our grasp, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said in a statement. We know that with smart investments and providing needed services we can accomplish this goal.
By focusing on youth homelessness in particular, we are protecting those most vulnerable to abuse and neglect, he said. Assisting with access to safe and consistent housing for children isnt just smart policy it is the morally correct action to take.
Lincoln Police say an officer who was assaulted Friday night is in the hospital with facial injuries.
Eighteen-year-old Kevin Estrada allegedly punched the officer at 9 p.m. Friday during an arrest, according to Capt. Don Scheinost.
The injured officer was one of two who responded to a disturbance in the 1000 block of Y Street after receiving calls about a man yelling in the street and knocking over parked motorcycles.
Estrada was later arrested for first-degree assault on a police officer, a felony.
NORWALK Want to know what happens after you vote?
The Norwalk League of Women Voters, in partnership with the Norwalk Registrar of Voters Office, is hosting a voter education event for National Voter Registration Day from 4-5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 26 in Norwalk City Halls Community Room, 125 East Ave.
Regent Anna Goodwin Jensen called to order the Sept. 12 meeting of Catholic Daughters Court Queen of Peace 2227 at Blessed Sacrament.
Sister Bernadette Englehaupt spoke on how adoption affects families throughout their lives. She spoke about her personal experience counseling both families.
A thank-you note was read from Marianne Koziols family. Donations will be made to Cross Catholic and Spirit radio and the four national charities the group normally gives to: Smile Train, Father Paden, Catholic Disaster Fund and SOAR (retirement for sisters).
Dorothy Woltman reported that the rosary is no longer being said the third Monday of each month for Right to Life.
The Grand Island Diocesan Council of Catholic Women had its fall institute Sept. 15 in Loup City. Guest speaker Kate Wieland from Cross Catholic Outreach, said they will be packing Boxes of Joy.
Barb Wieczorek reported giving 400 rosaries to Spirit Radio, which were used at the Hall County Fair, Nebraska State Fair and Husker Harvest Days.
In celebration of 100 years of Fatima, the Knights sponsored the movie, The 13th Day. This year is the 100th anniversary of the aberration. It was shown at the Grand Theatre Sept. 13.
Mary Bohnart thanked everyone for their prayers and cards for her son during his illness.
The next meeting will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10.
The GFWC/NFWC Caring Women met Sept. 11 at First Christian Church, with Barb Gillham serving as hostess.
President JoAnn Oseka led the group in devotions and presented the program, Patriot Day and National Day of Remembrance. Members participated by sharing their memories of Sept. 11, 2001.
The District V/VI Convention was Sept. 9 at the Kearney Womens Club clubhouse in Kearney. Oseka, NFWC secretary and president of Caring Women, represented the group.
Coupons for active military personnel were collected, as well as items for students in the Community Based Instruction Program. Members discussed the various charities the group contributes to and made plans for the upcoming year.
The second annual talent show fundraiser is scheduled for the end of April 2018. Members are beginning to find local acts that would be interested in participating. Anyone interested can contact a member of Caring Women.
The next meeting will be Oct. 2 at First Christian Church. The program will be Celiac Disease, coordinated and presented by Marlene Schmidt, who will also provide devotions and be the hostess. New members are always welcome.
For more information regarding upcoming meetings or GFWC/NFWC Caring Women in general, contact Louise Zimmerman at (308) 395-8352 or by email at lzimmer@cccusa.net.
Obermillers open car electronics business
Adam and Jama Obermiller of Grand Island have opened Miller VK Electronics in their Miller Used Tire Warehouse building at 811 W. Fourth St.
The electronics store specializes in car audio, home audio, remote starts, car alarms and home theater systems. It has a mobile home repair and installation technician on staff. The staff has a combined 40 years experience in car and home audio.
VK Electronics has a four-bay facility and a 10,000-square-foot show room shared with Miller Used Tire Warehouse. The Millers also own Miller Tire Pros & Service at 707 N. Eddy St.
The electronics store is open from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, call (308) 675-2449.
Blackburn opening podiatry clinic
Dr. Corey Blackburn, a Grand Island podiatrist, will soon open Prairie Foot & Ankle.
The clinic at 800 N. Alpha St. will open within the next couple weeks.
Blackburn said he loves Grand Island and wouldnt want to work anywhere else, so he will be opening his clinic here.
For more information, call the clinic at (308) 646-0077.St. Francis Cardiovascular/Pulmonary Rehabilitation program certified
St. Francis cardiovascular, rehab program certified
CHI Health St. Francis cardiovascular and rehabilitation program has been certified by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation.
St. Francis was recognized for its commitment to improving quality of life by enhancing standards of care. Cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation programs are designed to help people with cardiovascular problems and pulmonary problems recover more quickly. Both programs include exercise, education, counseling, and support for patients and their families.
The St. Francis cardiovascular/pulmonary rehabilitation program participated in an application process that requires extensive documentation of the programs practices. AACVPR Program Certification, which is effective for three years, is the only peer-review accreditation process designed to review individual programs for adherence to standards and guidelines developed and published by AACVPR and other professional societies. Each program is reviewed by the AACVPR Program Certification Committee and certification is awarded by the AACVPR Board of Directors.
Allen Capital Group opens new office in Omaha
OMAHA Nebraska wealth management firm Allen Capital Group, with offices in Grand Island, Central City and Scottsbluff, will open its first Omaha location at 10050 Regency Circle this month.
This expansion into the Omaha market represents another step forward in the firms rapid, strategic growth and its commitment to a client-centered approach.
Allen Capital Group traces its roots back to 1975, when Eric Allen opened a one-man financial planning business. Allen and his son, Mark, expanded the business into what is now Allen Capital Group in Grand Island in 2005.
The firms team includes specialists in estate planning and portfolio management, as well as accounting and investment research. The firms wealth management services include asset management, retirement planning, financial planning, estate planning, and income tax planning.
The new office, which will offer the same services as the firms three other Nebraska locations, will open with five employees. One of Allens short-term goals includes growing the Omaha team to 15 to 20 wealth advisers and staff.
Northwestern Mutual wins award for support of childhood cancer fight
Northwestern Mutual Nebraska has been named Most Exceptional 2017 Childhood Cancer Impact Award winner, receiving a $100,000 grant.
Managing partner Michael Tews and Nebraska office members have spent more than 2,500 hours volunteering and raised more than $250,000 toward childhood cancer programs since 2016. The office holds the fight against childhood cancer near and dear, as Nebraska is ranked third nationally in pediatric cancer rates.
The annual Childhood Cancer Impact Award is given to the office that is recognized most for its outstanding commitment to local nonprofits focused on childhood cancer research and family support. This award will contribute to childhood cancer research and family support in Nebraska.
Northwestern Mutual Nebraska supports the following organizations in the fight to end childhood cancer: Alexs Lemonade Stand Foundation, the Childrens Hospital & Medical Center, Camp CoHolo, Sammys Superheros, Pediatric Cancer Action Network, the Emma Strong Foundation and the Shootout for Cancer.
Several area schools are among employers receiving this years Governors Wellness Awards.
A total of 54 Nebraska employers representing 34 communities are being honored for offering evidence-based worksite wellness programs for their employees.
The businesses recognized today are putting people first and are making the workplace a healthy environment, Gov. Pete Ricketts said in announcing the recipients. Worksite wellness provides an opportunity for Nebraskans to live healthy lives, improve quality of life, and help grow a healthier Nebraska for the next generation.
Receiving the Sower Award, which recognizes workplaces that have established quality wellness programs, were Loup County Public Schools in Taylor and Shelby-Rising City Public School in Shelby.
Receiving the Grower Award, which honors businesses and organizations demonstrating significant improvement in employee health behaviors, were Boone Central Schools in Albion, Educational Service Unit 9 in Hastings, Grand Island Central Catholic School, Hastings Public Schools, and Head Start Child and Family Development Program in Hastings.
Employees clearly benefit from worksite wellness programs and recent health-related outcomes have been significant, said Judy Martin, deputy director of community and environmental health for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. In this past year, award recipients increased the percentage of people meeting Surgeon General Guidelines for Physical Activity by more than 16 percent, reduced tobacco use by almost nine percent, and decreased overweight/obesity by nearly 3 percent. Great work also continues to manage stress and improve culture within these organizations.
Awards will be presented to this years winners at four separate award ceremonies. The first was Sept. 21 in Gering. Others are planned for Sept. 28 in Kearney, Oct. 11 in Lincoln and Nov. 7 in Omaha.
Jones new marketing director for Paul Davis Restoration
Tasha Jones has joined Paul Davis Restoration in Grand Island as marketing director.
Jones will coordinate and participate in industry trade shows, along with client and charity events, and other community-based projects.
Most recently, she served as a business account executive in the telecommunications field. She brings a background of more than six years in banking and finance, along with vast expertise in customer service, sales and marketing.
Jones and her spouse reside in St. Paul with their two children. She can be reached at Tasha.Jones@pauldavis.com or call (308)398-0370.
Allen, Waddington attend conference
Jordan Allen and Tracy Waddington of Family Resources of Greater Nebraska attended the Institute for Brain Potential conference, How People Change their Minds and Adopt Healthful Attitudes, on Sept. 15 in Kearney.
The conference was led by Dr. Bill M. Kelley, professor of psychological and brain sciences and director of the Dartmouth Brain Imaging Center at Dartmouth College, an expert in the study of how people learn to control their thoughts, behaviors, emotions and desires. Kelley presented on applying social psychological methods to change minds and the brain, self-regulation and the habit brain.
A family vacation turned into an unforgettable experience after Hurricane Irma hit.
Brian and Angie Mustion took their family, which included six adults and five kids, to the Turks and Caicos islands in the beginning of September. The vacation was a Christmas present. The family knew it was hurricane season, but it was the time that worked out best for everyones schedule.
Brian said the odds of anything happening to them were slim but this time it got us.
The family was supposed to be in the islands Sept. 1-8, but because of the hurricane they left Sept. 12. Though the experience of having a hurricane hit was nerve-wrecking, it couldve been much worse.
The resort Brian and Angie stayed at was a Sandals resort.
Angie said the resort was well prepared for the storm and had a meeting that Tuesday, Sept. 5, and Wednesday, Sept. 6, before the hurricane hit. She said they informed guests that certain portions of the resort would close to be boarded up. Brian and Angie said the operation manager of the resort flew in with his wife to weather the storm with everyone.
He came in kind of as a calming force, Angie said.
The manager warned them what would happen, as the island has braved hurricanes before.
He was very confident in their buildings, Brian said.
Everyone was to stay inside during the storm, as trees would fall over and debris would be flying in the wind. Brian said the resort had about 1,350 people on the property, including staff and their families. He said the staff was calm and seemed prepared.
Angie said before the storm hit was the worst of it all.
For me it was probably the most anxiety because you didnt know what was going to happen, Angie said.
The whole experience wasnt as bad as some other places or what some media made it seem like, they said. The resort had generators that kicked in, so they never lost power. Brian and Angie said the staff always had food for the guests, even when they had to take it back to their room and wait out the hurricane the day it hit. Angie said the kids slept through the hurricane.
It was very noisy, Brian said of the hurricane and of the wind blowing off doors and such.
The family stayed in their suite waiting out the storm and high winds, which blew in some water.
No one was hurt in Hurricane Irma where they were. Brian said they wouldve taken back the damage that happened to the island and the peoples belongings, but some good came of the hurricane. He said people were there from all over the world, and they all responded universally: they helped each other.
The human dynamics really changed, Brian said. It was refreshing, actually.
He said once people realized the hurricane was coming, no one was in vacation mode. People made their own beds and such because they didnt want to bother staff. Guests were concerned for staff and their families. People bonded with each other and all pitched in.
Brian and Angie said they were very grateful to Delta airlines because they brought in a flight to the islands so people could get back home. Delta brought in all of their own staff, as the airport wasnt open. Tickets, Angie said, had to be handwritten and passports had to be manually called in.
Hopefully the next family vacation wont include a hurricane.
It will be a memory that well all have, he said.
The list of qualifications for playing the mountain dulcimer is extremely short. In fact, there are none.
Absolutely anyone can play the instrument, which is also called the Appalachian dulcimer.
Because a precise grip isnt necessary, even people with arthritis in their hands can play.
No experience with any instrument is necessary. You dont even have to read music.
Within five or 10 minutes, you can be strumming your first song. Thats because people play by number, rather than reading musical notes. So if youre afraid you cant play, dont fret.
The Prairie Dulcimer Players play their stringed instruments almost every Thursday at nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the area. This past Thursday, they played at Tiffany Square and Lebensraum Assisted Living.
Playing were seven members of the group, who clearly enjoyed themselves.
Its fun. Were having a blast, said Pam Aldana of Hastings.
The goal is to lead people to dulcimer bliss.
Kay Stoppkotte of Chapman said its fun to see the smiles of appreciation on the audiences faces.
Nursing home residents love to hear You Are My Sunshine, Amazing Grace and patriotic numbers. The show also includes Polly Wolly Doodle, Will the Circle Be Unbroken and In the Good Old Summertime.
Aldana, who is the emcee, invites audience participation on Shell Be Coming Round the Mountain. She encourages listeners to say Here she is, Hi babe and other expressions during the song. They pretend to chop an old red rooster, saying chop chop, and rub their stomachs as they say yum yum, thinking about eating chicken and dumplings.
The Prairie Dulcimer Players say the instrument produces a quiet and soothing sound.
Felix Aldana, who is Pams husband, says the dulcimer is relaxing to play.
Carole Grady, who lives in Sutton, likes to play at nursing homes. Dulcimer music, she noted, seems to soothe people with Alzheimers. Grady is also in another group, the Hamilton County Band.
Marilyn Hoffman, who lives in Juniata, practices on her dulcimer for an hour each day, seven days a week.
She likes many of the songs, including the religious ones and the traditional backhills songs. On the sad songs, she sometimes makes up her own lyrics as she practices.
Appalachian dulcimers typically have three or four strings. The fretted instrument is part of the zither family.
According to a sheet handed out by the group, dulcimers are played while seated and were considered a parlor instrument because of the modest sound they produce.
Fourteen people make up the Prairie Dulcimer Players. Eleven of those people are either woodcarvers or married to woodcarvers.
John Robbins, who lives in Sutton, got interested in dulcimers about three years ago when he and his wife, Mary, attended a craft show in Summerfield, Kansas. Robbins, who is both a woodworker and a woodcarver, was intrigued by the two dulcimer groups that played at the craft show. One of the groups was from Beatrice.
Robbins, who had already made many cigar-box guitars, started making dulcimers. He has now made more than 200, including most of the instruments used by the Prairie Dulcimer Players.
Each one Robbins makes is better than the last, said Felix Aldana, a woodcarver himself.
The groups other woodcarvers include Stoppkotte and Loretta Broberg of Grand Island.
The Prairie Dulcimers group started playing in March 2015. About half of the members can read music.
John and Mary Robbins credit Forrest and Eileen Smith of Beatrice for spreading the popularity of the mountain dulcimer.
Over the last couple of years, Robbins, 75, has taught at a Mid-America Woodcarvers Association gathering at Doane University and the Gretna Wood Carvers Retreat. At both, he taught people how to build and play a dulcimer.
John and Mary Robbins have helped spread the gospel of the mountain dulcimer. Six Omaha residents have built their own instruments and are starting to perform.
The Prairie Dulcimer group has donated dulcimers to St. Michaels Elementary School in Hastings.
Members of the group played eight of the 10 days of the Nebraska State Fair.
One audience member, Felix Aldana recalled, said she didnt want to learn to play. She just wanted to sit and listen to the gentle music.
Other members of the Prairie Dulcimer Players include Nancy Oluffsen of Lincoln, Ralph and Jonell Burnside of Hastings, Jeannette Schmidt of Wood River and Traci Bates of Sutherland.
The Prairie Dulcimer group has played at nursing homes in Grand Island, Hastings, Sutton, Henderson, Doniphan, Harvard and Red Cloud.
For information about the group, call (308) 627-4435 or (402) 469-9666.
Paris Tebrink was determined to win Saturday in the senior clover leaf barrel racing competition at the Aksarben horse show.
As her contestant number, pinned next to her saddle, was called, Tebrink, 16 of Denton, and her horse, Melvin, galloped full speed forward into the Thompson Open Air Arena. Tebrink led Melvin to the right, rounding a barrel, before going to the left and rear to round all three barrels placed in a triangular pattern in the middle of the arena.
The goal was to round all three barrels faster than the other contestants in the barrel racing competition.
After she rounded the three barrels, the announcer announced Tebrinks time: 18.28 seconds enough to be crowned champion of the senior clover leaf barrel racing competition.
Tebrink said after the competition that the win was unexpected and felt good.
The senior barrel racing was one of the competition events featured at Saturdays Aksarben horse show part of the Aksarben stock show, one of the nations largest 4-H stock shows, held this weekend and next weekend. Saturdays Akarben horse show consisted of six events: junior and senior reining, pole bending and barrel racing.
Kate Pulec, horse superintendent of the Aksarben stock show, said there are 84 exhibitors in this weekends show, held Saturday and Sunday, and 323 entries. She added competitors must be between 12 and 18 years of age and reside in Nebraska or surrounding states to compete in the show.
Out of those exhibitors, they can pick certain events, she said. The reining pattern shows real versatility of the horse and the relationship it has with the rider, its capabilities and how well trained it is. The poles and barrels both have a pattern as well. It is more about the speed and agility of the horse with the rider. They work to ride that pattern at the fastest possible time they can.
Tebrink said this was the first time she competed at the Aksarben horse show.
In addition to competing in the senior clover leaf barrel racing competition, Tebrink, who competed the Aksarben stock show with her twin sister, Paytra, also competed in the senior pole bending competition. Unfortunately, Tebrink said, she hit one of the six poles in the pole bending event and fell short of a win due to having a two-second penalty added to her total time.
Pole bending is a lot harder because you have so many more times to make an error because there are six poles, Tebrink said. It takes a lot more work to work on bending their (horses) neck and using my feet on him.
But in order to even compete at a show, such as the Aksarben horse show, Tebrink said, a lot of preparation is needed.
We set patterns (to prepare) for the barrel racing and set cones out so they can go around in certain directions, she said. Every day, we have to train them so they are flexible and can bend around them. We also have to condition them throughout the race and we have to long-trot them.
Tebrink added to prepare for the pole bending competition, she also places poles in different patterns because the horse begins to memorize the pattern. She said she wants the horses to have a variety of patterns to run through.
As for the Aksarben stock show, Pulec said this is the 90th year of the show, but the first year it has been held at the Nebraska State Fairgrounds. She added she appreciates the facilities at the fairgrounds and said the location has helped attract more competitors.
Horse entries are up from past years, so thats a good sign for this location, Pulec said. People like being in the center of the state and exhibitors make the travel.
For the first time, the Aksarben 4-H Stock Show and Purple Ribbon Auction have come to Grand Island, and the city is happy to have the event here.
After 89 years in Omaha, the Aksarben Foundation decided to move the event to Fonner Park. Why? Mainly because of the beautiful, large and extremely functional facilities that were built there when the Nebraska State Fair moved from Lincoln to Grand Island in 2010.
It is hard to beat the facilities at Fonner Park for livestock shows, and group after group is finding that out. There is the Five Points Bank Arena, Swine Arena, the Thompson Arena (including the renovated outdoor arena) and outstanding stalls and barns in which to keep the livestock.
And that is not even mentioning the Heartland Events Center, the Pinnacle Bank Expo Center, the Bosselman Conference Center or the Raising Nebraska building. All of those are available for big gatherings.
Livestock group after livestock group has found the facilities just about perfect for what they need and many committed to coming back to Grand Island.
Community leaders are confident that Aksarben will feel the same way.
In fact, Aksarben may be the biggest catch of all. More than 2,000 youths will be participating in various aspects of the show. And, of course, family members will be coming with them. So, in all, the show is expected to bring 5,000 people to Grand Island.
Events started Saturday and continue today with the horse show and will also continue next weekend with beef, lamb, goat and swine shows. In addition, one of the biggest events will be the National 4-H Livestock Quiz Bowl on Saturday that will bring in competitors from all across the country to the Bosselman Conference Center.
The facilities, along with a strong pitch by G.I. leaders, are what has brought the show to Grand Island, Aksarben officials said. In Omaha, getting the Century Link Center ready and the logistics of holding the event there were just too cumbersome.
The event also holds the possibility of expansion in the future. In coming years, a rodeo and even concerts could be held in conjunction with it, bringing even more visitors to Central Nebraska.
So the Aksarben 4-H Stock Show coming to Grand Island is a big deal and the community is certainly glad to have them here. Its hoped the participants will have a good time.
All of the competitors are certainly wished well, and local residents have the opportunity to go see some of the finest livestock being shown anywhere in the country.
This past weekend, I saw a few cars flying Mexican flags.
My first reaction was fear -- I live in an area where you're as likely to see a "Si se puede" sticker on a car as you are a Confederate flag or a "Make America Great Again" yard sign. Naturally, I was concerned that whatever brave soul dared to conspicuously celebrate Mexican Independence Day was courting danger.
I honked to offer moral support. And I recalled that just the other day I said to my class of Hispanic students -- in the most deadpan voice I could muster -- "Soon it'll be Hispanic Heritage Month. Yay."
This is arguably the worst month of the year.
Not because there isn't beauty and pride to be found in the spotlighting of folkloric dances and music, traditional cooking and the works of artists of Latin American descent. But because (like everything else these days) it is so fraught with symbolism and politics that it has become a designated period of grievance-airing.
It used to be that the "celebration" would inspire mere political pandering and insane product marketers adding a taco, pinata or mariachi hat to packaging in order to feign relevance to the Latino community.
Over the past couple of years some have renamed Hispanic Heritage Month to "Latinx Heritage Month" -- because the term "Hispanic" is, to them, passe and "Latino" is not gender-inclusive enough.
Others put down the whole thing as illegitimate. Political observer Adriana Maestas recently wrote: "People of Mexican, Central American and South American descent shouldn't have to celebrate heritage that is tied to invaders and colonizers."
This rolls straight into bitter arguments, impassioned pleas and (hopefully nonviolent) protests sparked by those who believe Columbus Day should be renamed "Indigenous Peoples Day."
This is all topped off by a whole October's worth of manufacturers and retailers taking the looks and styles of the religious Day of the Dead traditions practiced across Latin America and selling them as cheap Halloween decorations and costumes.
It's beyond exhausting. The so-called conversations about these "issues" that permeate the internet at this time of year are a colossal waste of time and energy within an already very loosely united populace. Sure, these people all share a common tie to Latin America but they diverge widely when it comes to country of origin, language, customs, culture, political views and interest in "what it means" to be what the U.S. Census calls the "Hispanic population."
I trace some of these troubles to the obsessive -- and completely ineffectual -- fixation on the semantics of Hispanic identity.
The hours and hours of time, effort, money, talent and energy that some have spent arguing about whether "Hispanic" or "Latino" is the better moniker, lobbying for the term "illegal immigrant" to be banned, and policing the use of the word "American" (the logic being that anyone from North and South America is an American, though there isn't a soul outside the United States who would call someone from Chile or Mexico or Canada anything other than a Chilean, Mexican or a Canadian) have been fruitless.
And the next frontier seems to be the phrase "nation of immigrants."
People who use it typically do so to defend immigrants and portray them as an integral part of our country's fabric. Critics say that this phrase excludes and marginalizes Native Americans, Hawaiians, Puerto Ricans and blacks.
In the Chicago Sun-Times, Natalie Moore explained it: "When we hear platitudes like 'we are a nation immigrants' (sic) or 'immigrants built this country,' it feels like an erasure -- not just of native people but black Americans who are descendants of enslaved Africans."
Victor Landa, editor-in-chief of the Hispanic-focused news website NewsTaco, said in a recent Facebook Live video that we need to stop saying the term because it has become lip service: Why do we celebrate going to Chinatown or Little Italy but get mad when we see a neighborhood where the business signage is in Spanish?
These are interesting concepts to question and vital conversations to engage in -- and we shouldn't relegate them to a made-up heritage month. But it's worth noting that while words do matter, they become a brick wall if we can't get beyond terminology to actually participating in meaningful dialogue.
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Linkedin Rob Lever (Agence France-Presse) Washington, United States Sun, September 24, 2017 11:45 1877 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a21c6a70 2 Science & Tech technology,tech-companies,Google,Facebook Free
With a handful of US technology giants growing more powerful and dominant, debate is intensifying on whether big tech's growth is healthy or not.
Over the past few years, Apple, Google parent Alphabet, Facebook and Amazon have become among the world's most valuable companies.
Along with stalwarts like Microsoft and rising stars like Netflix, the tech firms exercise enormous control over what people see and how they live.
Increasingly, policymakers and others have begun to consider breaking up or regulating the biggest technology companies, although imminent action appears unlikely.
While many consumers welcome innovation from the tech sector, critics have complained about the power of "gatekeepers" of information and other content.
Google holds around 90 percent of the internet search market in the United States and Europe. Facebook and Google scoop up some 60 percent of digital ad revenues and are eating up 90 percent of new ad growth in the United States.
Google's Android and Apple's iOS power the overwhelming majority of mobile devices. Amazon accounts for nearly half of US online sales and is expanding into new sectors.
- Concentration of power -
Barry Lynn, executive director of the Open Markets Institute, said three firms -- Google, Facebook and Amazon -- "have more power than any previous monopolies we've dealt with in the past century."
Read also: Google executive downplays AIs possible threat to mankind
"We have to be incredibly concerned about the power of Facebook, Google and Amazon," said Lynn, who launched his research center last month after his team was ousted from the Google-funded New America Foundation.
"They have their hands on the flow of news, the flow of books and they are manipulating that flow in a conscious way to promote their interests."
Even though the idea of taking on the tech giants appears extreme, the upheaval in US politics over the past year has brought together allies from across the spectrum worried about their concentration of economic power.
The recently formed "New Center" political alliance that includes leaders from the traditional right and left has placed "challenging big tech" on its agenda.
Bill Galston, a former White House advisor under Bill Clinton and co-founder of New Center, argued that tech monopolies are hurting wages, entrepreneurship and could be distorting the political landscape.
"The big tech firms have almost unlimited funds they can throw into lobbying, and they have been ramping this up steeply," Galston said. "Is that a good thing for democracy?"
Lou Kerner, partner at the investment firm Flight Ventures, said this monopoly power is more concentrated than any in recent history, and expressed concern it will "strangle innovation" and increase income inequality.
But Kerner said he opposes heavy-handed regulation or breakup of the tech giants.
"By their nature regulators move slowly and by the time they address the problems they are no longer problems," Kerner said.
"Historically the market has been much better at addressing monopoly powers in technology."
- Rewriting the book -
Ed Black, president of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which represents firms including Google, Facebook and Microsoft, said breaking up the tech giants could have a "chilling effect on innovation."
Read also: Google looking to help news outlets win subscribers
"If our goal is really to maintain innovation, spur the entire economy, and grow higher paying jobs, asking the government to penalize a successful foundational economic sector, absent bad behavior or consumer harm, seems illogical," Black said.
European regulators have taken a more aggressive approach, imposing a hefty fine on Google after concluding the search giant illegally favored its own shopping services, one of three antitrust investigations into the company.
In Washington, the rise of Donald Trump suggests a possible shift in US policy after years in which Silicon Valley was seen as close to the White House.
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon said recently he was leading an effort within the administration to turn Facebook and Google into "public utilities."
But Federal Trade Commission chief Maureen Ohlhausen, who would lead any US antitrust action, signaled any effort to break up tech firms is remote.
"Given the clear consumer benefits of technology-driven innovation, I am concerned about the push to adopt an approach that will disregard consumer benefits in the pursuit of other perhaps even conflicting goals," Ohlhausen said in a speech at Georgetown University.
She said some tech critics want "to rewrite the modern rules" of antitrust enforcement to "pursue a wide variety of goals other than consumer welfare."
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Linkedin Joshua Melvin (Agence France-Presse) Milan, Italy Sun, September 24, 2017 10:50 1877 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a21c5d0e 2 Lifestyle Salvatore-Ferragamo,fashion,#fashion,fashion-designer,#fashion-designer,Milan-Fashion-Week Free
Venerable Italian house Salvatore Ferragamo gave the finger to the gathered Milan fashion week glitterati on Saturday as the backdrop for the label's glitz and glam runway show.
The finger in this case was the notorious massive marble sculpture outside Milan's stock exchange of an outstretched middle digit that has sparked debate in the Italian fashion capital.
But there was no mention by organizers of the artwork looming over the show, which was all bright colors, exotic materials and vertiginous high heels -- not exactly a statement of aggression.
The sculpture, by Italy's most famous living artist, Maurizio Cattelan, is titled L.O.V.E. But it has been criticized as being anti-capitalist due to its location, which the artist denies.
When asked about the collection, creative lead for women's ready-to-wear Fulvio Rigoni stuck to the clothes saying "the idea was of taking different pieces from different VIP clients of Salvatore Ferragamo last century and mixing them up."
The outdoor show, set in a field of sod laid for the occasion and backgrounded by the finger sculpture, saw models walking the looks on a glass catwalk among bloggers, buyers and fans of the 90-year-old house which won renown for its shoes.
The hand-painted python skin, flapper-type dresses bursting with tassels and satin gowns at Ferragamo, were the antithesis of the collection unveiled earlier by minimalist label Jil Sander.
Husband and wife duo Luke and Lucie Meier's first show at the creative helm of the German-founded house sent models down a spare outdoor runway wearing the white, flowing garb of a mystic, offering an antidote to the Milan fashion week flash.
Rejection of excess
The designs were an embrace of "purity... we're not interested in excess at all," Canadian Luke Meier told reporters backstage after the show.
"I don't think we do it from the perspective of what is going on (in fashion). We do it from the perspective of what we like and what we feel is right at the moment."
Read also: Hot new talent to light up Milan Fashion Week
There was also a suggestion of innocence in the designs, with a handbag made to look like a school boy's books wrapped in a leather strap, and suits big enough to look like adult clothes on children playing dress up.
The Meiers, a rare married duo of co-directors, come from Dior for her and Paris-based menswear brand OAMC via iconic streetwear label Supreme for him.
"Lucie and I work together very naturally," Meier told Vogue in June of his Swiss-born wife.
"We have had an open dialogue about the approach to design for over 15 years and have often spoken of working together one day."
'All these easy pieces'
At the other end of the spectrum Italian fashion house Bottega Veneta had Hollywood star Lauren Hutton bobbing her head to hip-hop earlier in the day as it showed off a playful, nightclub-ready collection heavy on jewels, mirrors and fringe.
The venerable Venetian outfit transformed a warren of rooms and halls at the 19th century Palazzo Archinto -- now a school -- into a sprawling runway at Milan fashion week.
The co-ed Spring/Summer 2018 collection featured airy shirt-dresses, fringe strung with tiny glass beads and several slinky floor-length dresses covered in rhinestones.
Kardashian mum Kris Jenner was front and center, watching her daughter Kendall pass in a geometric-pattern swimsuit and shiny trench coat. Superstar Bella Hadid was on the runway too, after shows for Fendi and Moschino.
Bottega regular Hutton -- who famously sported a red leather Bottega purse when she starred alongside Richard Gere in "American Gigolo" -- sat in the front row tapping her toe and nodding along with the booming sounds of rapper 50 Cent's 2003 smash "In Da Club".
"It's all these easy pieces," Bottega's long-time creative lead Tomas Maier said in his design notes. "Even the long dresses are like T-shirts."
The women's silhouettes were clean and utilitarian, but there was tonnes of embellishment -- with tiny round mirrors, exotic skins like anaconda and metal eyelets of varying sizes.
Designs for the fellas were sporty but sharp, including dapper tapered trousers and pointy shoes. Materials like antique satin, suede and cotton pique ruled the day.
"It makes for a very precise silhouette," Maier's notes said.
Now owned by French conglomerate Kering, which also has Gucci in its stable of luxury brands, Bottega Veneta was founded in 1966 by Michele Taddei and Renzo Zengiaro.
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Linkedin Anna Shiryaevskaya (Bloomberg) Sun, September 24, 2017 16:06 1877 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a21cdd35 2 Science & Tech Uber,London,application Free
Uber Technologies Inc. collected more than 500,000 signatures in less than 24 hours on a petition to protest Londons decision to not renew the companys taxi license, a setback in one of its most lucrative markets.
The campaign on the website Change.org asks London Mayor Sadiq Khan to reverse Transport for Londons Friday decision, and is being promoted on the companys app in London. While the ride-hailing app is targeting 1 million supporters, Khan defended his position that while he supports innovative businesses, all companies must adhere to high standards of safety and security.
I have every sympathy with Uber drivers and customers affected by this decision but their anger really should be directed at Uber, Khan said in a response posted on the website Saturday. They have let down their drivers and customers by failing, in the view of TfL, to act as a fit and proper operator.
Uber said 3.5 million Londoners rely on Uber for "a safe, reliable and affordable ride" and that 40,000 drivers depended on the app for their livelihood. The company said its drivers have been through the same enhanced background checks as black cab drivers.
While the petition doesnt trigger any legal or regulatory process, the San Francisco-based company has a history of successfully using petitions and loyalty of the public to pressure city governments. It succeeded in reversing regulatory decisions in London and in New York in 2015. Uber urged customers to sign the petition in a tweet posted at 12:41 p.m. Friday, about two hours after the London agencys decision.
Uber has 21 days after the Sept. 30 revocation to file an appeal. It can continue the service until the end of the appeals process.
Topics : Uber London application
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Can Tho, Vietnam Sun, September 24, 2017 12:41 1877 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a21c6d1c 2 Food Vietnam,Vietnamese-food,culinary Free
Stuffed, rolled, baked or fried: rice paper rules in food-obsessed Vietnam, where diners have spurned factory-made versions for homespun ones, propping up a thriving cottage industry in the Mekong Delta.
They're a staple on dinner tables from north to south, eaten fresh with fish, fried with pork, or baked on an open flame and eaten like crackers -- a popular bar snack.
But regardless of how they're prepared, one thing most people in Vietnam agree on: homemade is always better.
"It's better than the factory version, try it, it's tastier," Nguyen Thi Hue told AFP, offering a baked coconut version at her roadside snack stop in southern Can Tho province.
She sources her 'banh trang' in nearby Thuan Hung village, known for producing some of the finest in the Mekong Delta, long renowned as the "rice bowl of Vietnam".
Some families earn a living making rice paper, even as factories have popped up producing creative flavours like salted shrimp, coconut or versions made with the notoriously potent durian fruit.
"Customers prefer those produced handmade in the village. We don't use chemicals, they're just natural," said 26-year-old Bui Minh Phi, a third-generation rice paper maker in Thuan Hung.
He can earn $65 per day spinning the trade, or double that during the busy lunar new year period.
It's a common sentiment in Vietnam, where many diners eschew fast food joints for home-style restaurants serving pho noodle soup or banh mi sandwiches like their grandmothers might have made it.
Read also: Recipe to promoting Indonesian street food
Rice paper making is a matter of family heritage for many like Ha Thi Sau.
On a recent morning in Thuan Hung, she tutored her daughter on the age-old technique she learned from her aunt: pour the sweetened batter -- a secret family recipe -- onto a pan, before transferring to a bamboo mat.
The operation remains a family affair: Sau's son-in-law feeds the fire with rice husks, while her 83-year-old mother washes dishes on the river bank. Though other jobs are available in her village -- once a rural backwater now dotted with modern cafes and mobile phone shops -- she doesn't dream of abandoning her trade.
"I've been making rice paper for so long, I don't want to leave it for another job," she said, as the scent of coconut wafted in the air.
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Linkedin Prima Wirayani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, September 23 2017
Bank Indonesia (BI) is continuing its easing policy in a bid to help spur the countrys lower-than-expected economic growth, leaving narrower room for a further rate cut this year amid looming external risks from the policies of the United States Federal Reserve.
After holding a two-day Board of Governors meeting, the central bank announced on Friday its decision to lower its policy seven-day reverse repurchase (repo) rate by 25 basis points to 4.25 percent.
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Linkedin Daniel Wools (Agence France-Presse) Washington, United States Sun, September 24, 2017 16:11 1877 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a21cede1 2 World North-Korea,US,kim-jong-un,war Free
US bombers and fighter escorts flew off the coast of North Korea Saturday in a show of force against its nuclear weapons program, escalating already sky-high tensions.
The hermit state's foreign minister meanwhile derided Donald Trump as "mentally deranged" at the United Nations, while the US president fired back on Twitter with fresh threats.
The latest exchange of bellicose rhetoric comes as international alarm mounts over Pyongyang's weapons ambitions -- including a suggestion this week that the country is considering detonating an H-bomb over the Pacific.
US bombers have carried out similar flights before, as the United States and the international community struggle to rein in North Korea's weapons programs.
But in a new stage for such show-of-force operations, the Pentagon stressed this was the furthest north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas that any US fighter or bomber has flown off North Korea's coast in this century.
"This mission is a demonstration of US resolve and a clear message that the president has many military options to defeat any threat," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said.
"We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the US homeland and our allies."
The Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers flown Saturday are based in Guam, and were accompanied by F-15C Eagle fighter escorts from Okinawa, Japan, White said. They flew over international waters off the east coast of North Korea.
There was another reason for concern after an underground rumble near North Korea's nuclear test site. China at first said it suspected an explosion.
But it was later ruled by a nuclear test ban watchdog and other experts to be a shallow 3.5-magnitude earthquake and likely an aftershock from the hermit state's latest nuclear test on September 3.
This week saw a blistering war of words between Kim and Trump, with the US leader using his maiden speech at the United Nations General Assembly to warn that Washington would "totally destroy" the North if America or its allies were threatened.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sun, September 24, 2017 18:38 1877 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a21d1d76 1 Politics propaganda,communism,PDI-P,TNI,Gatot-Nurmantyo Free
Secretary-general of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Hasto Kristiyanto said that Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo could stir up fresh controversy with his order on the screening of the propaganda film Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI (Betrayal of the Communists).
Hasto said that although the TNI commander had the authority to order the screening, the program could in fact create more problems in the society.
"What the PDI-P wants is that we should look to the future by learning from what happened in the past," Hasto said as quoted by tempo.co, adding that a leader should make efforts to unite the country and not create division.
Gatot has ordered TNI personnel to hold screening of Pengkhinatan G30S/PKI in an effort to teach the young generation about the danger of communism.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has not commented on Gatot's plan.
Pengkhianatan G30SPKI, which is directed by acclaimed director Arifin C. Noer, tells the story of Gen. Soeharto in quashing a coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). In the big-budget film, communists are depicted as godless savages who mutilated military officers in a frenzy.
Last week, while visiting the tomb of Soeharto in Surakarta, Gatot praised the former leader, saying that he should be a role model for all TNI personnel.
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Linkedin Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar, Bali Sun, September 24, 2017 17:46 1877 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a21d05ce 1 National bali,Mount-Agung,eruption,Volcano,#MtAgungVolcano Free
As thousands have been evacuated amid intensified seismic activity at Mount Agung, tourism on Indonesias popular resort island remains unaffected.
Fake news, however, has spread on social media with the aim of creating panic on the island, chairman of the Bali office of the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies, I Ketut Ardana, said. The fake news had also prompted questions from travel agents and operators from across the globe in relation to conditions in Bali.
We are trying very hard to explain the actual conditions. We are glad they understand, he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Ardana said fake news disseminated on social media said Mt. Agung had erupted and that the eruption had caused deaths.
As of now, tourism has not been affected. There have been a few cancelations, but not many, he said, adding that his agency would continue to disseminate correct information to all stakeholders.
Local authorities recorded that more than 40,000 people had fled their homes owing to increased seismic activity at Mt. Agung, which last erupted in 1963. (rin)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sun, September 24, 2017 13:45 1877 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a21c9507 1 City murder-case,North-Jakarta Free
The Jakarta Police have arrested Peri Sugianto, 27, an online motorcycle taxi driver, for the alleged murder of sales promoter Dini Oktaviani, 19, in her apartment in Laguna Tower, Penjaringan, North Jakarta.
Jakarta Police general crimes deputy chief Adj. Comr. Didik Sugiarto said the suspect killed Dini on Sept. 13 and that he was arrested on Thursday.
Her family from Pangkal Pinang [in Bangka Belitung] could not contact her, so they visited her apartment, which was unlocked, and found her dead on Monday, he said.
According to findings by the police, prior to the murder, Dini asked Peri to find moneylenders to borrow money.
He then allegedly killed her and took her valuables, including her phone and jewelry.
Jakarta Police automotive robberies head Adj. Sr. Comr. Antonius Agus said the suspect had known the victim since 2010.
He said that Peri had previously worked as a DJ at a nightspot and lived close to the victim's house in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta. The victim reportedly used Peris service as a motorcycle taxi driver.
Antonius said the motive behind the alleged murder related to debt.
Peri was charged under Article 365 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on violent theft and Article 338 of the KUHP on murder, which carry a combined maximum sentence of 15 years' imprisonment. (dis/wit)
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Linkedin Gemma Holliani Cahya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sun, September 24, 2017 19:56 1877 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a21d28b8 1 Politics Wiranto,weapon,Gatot-Nurmantyo,TNI,BIN,police Free
Coordinating Political, Security and Legal Affairs Minister Wiranto issued a statement Sunday to give clarifications to a controversial statement made by the Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo who suspected that a plan had been in place to import 5,000 illegal firearms to the country.
Wiranto said that there had been a miscommunication regarding a plan to import firearms for educational purposes.
There has been a communication breakdown between institutions involved, Wiranto said in a press conference on Sunday.
During a speech he delivered on Friday in front of retired military personnel, Gatot said that he received intelligence information that a number of institutions had ordered the shipment of firearms from abroad and that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had not been briefed about the matter.
Wiranto said he had spoken with Gatot, National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian, the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Gen. Budi Gunawan as well as other relevant officials, to discuss the allegation and came to a different conclusion.
There is a procurement of 500 non-TNI standard firearms ordered to Pindad, not 5,000. It was BIN that made the order for intelligence education purpose, he said referring to the state-owned weapons producer.
Wiranto said given that the firearms were not TNI-standard, the procurement would not need a permit from the military or the President.
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Linkedin Sri Mulyani Indrawati (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 25 2017
On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly last week, I spoke with business leaders at the Bloomberg Forum to underscore Indonesias commitment to its climate-resilient future. As finance minister, the climate financing aspect of this development challenge is within my purview and something I am deeply passionate about.
There is continued support and growing expectation for the private sectors increased role in developing creative and innovative financing including concessional sources for adaptation and mitigation projects. The function of local governments is also widely recognized as more important to solve the challenges related to their critical role at the grassroots level.
By 2050, the world will need to feed 9 billion people while reducing emissions and ensuring climate-resilient food security. An additional 1.1 billion people will require access to electricity while transitioning from fossil fuels. Climate change remains the top concern of global leaders per last years World Economic Forum survey. These challenges and more are just over the horizon.
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Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sun, September 24, 2017 09:20 1877 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a21c3bc7 1 Guide To Jakpost-guide-to,jalan-wijaya,South-Jakarta,cafe,coffee Free
With the South Jakarta Mayor Office at one end, Jl. Wijaya I in Kebayoran Baru stretches from Jl. Prapanca Raya to Jl. Wolter Monginsidi. Set in an upscale neighborhood, the road presents eateries and other retail stores catering to the area's residents, and entices visitors from other areas of the capital city.
How to get there
As public transportation to the area is scarce, you may want to bring your own vehicle to reach the road, where there are also plenty of designated parking spaces for each destination or retail store.
App-hailing a ride or taking a taxi would also make a convenient choice, especially after a drink or two at one of Jakarta's most talked about bars, which is located on Jl. Wijaya I.
What to wear
Your outfit depends on what you plan to do. Some eateries are upscale, so you may want to take the opportunity to dress up to dine out. If your plan consists of stopping by for groceries or a quick bite, wearing casual clothes would be most comfortable.
What to do
A branch of the Institut Francais dIndonesie (IFI) is located on Jl. Wijaya I no. 48. So if you've been looking to learn French, visit the office to ask for programs best suited to your needs. The institute (http://www.ifi-id.com/jakarta) offers classes as well as private lessons that lead to certification.
A branch of the Institut francais dIndonesie (IFI) is located on Jl. Wijaya I no. 48. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)
There is also Conclave, a coworking space for those looking to get some work done. According to their website (http://www.cnclv.co/#pricing) prices for local membership start at Rp 100,000 (US$7.50) per day, or Rp 50,000 for students with a valid ID. Facilities include internet, free flow espresso and free daily printing.
Meanwhile, if you're looking to do some beauty maintenance, Narsih salon could be your pick. Popular for its affordable prices, the house-based salon is not located on the main road but on a smaller street Jl. Pulo Raya I.
It provides waxing services, but it is mostly known for eyebrow threading. The salon is notorious for its long lines, especially on the weekends, so come early for a chance of an appointment.
Read also: Jakpost guide to Jl. Barito
Where to shop
Atalia shoe store creates custom-made shoes for dance, special occasions, as well as orthopedic and other special-needs shoes. Established almost 10 years ago, the store has continuously created a variety of dance footwear, from ballroom to tango and jazz.
Atalia shoe store creates custom-made shoes for dance, special occasions, as well as orthopedic and other special-needs shoes. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)
All dance shoes, as well as special occasion shoes, range from Rp 1.2 to 1.7 million. Meanwhile, orthopedic shoes and special-needs shoes are usually based on a doctor's prescription and need particular attention. This specially-designed footwear for children usually ranges from Rp 875,000 to 975,000, while a pair for adults could cost from Rp 1.5 to 1.7 million.
A pair of custom-made shoes, either for dance or on doctor's orders, typically takes around two weeks to construct.
Further down the road, there is also a Korean grocery store, New Soul, which sells imported products from South Korea. The shop sells ingredients to make authentic Korean food at home, such as the ever-popular kimchi.
What to eat
There are several eateries on Jl. Wijaya I, most of which serve western-style food.
One of the local culinary restaurants is Rasaroa, which serves traditional Manadonese dishes. Among the popular dishes at Rosaroa include red beans, stir-fried papaya flowers with cakalang (Manadonese-style tuna), cakalang fufu and Manadonese-style porridge, which is served with yam, corn, water spinach, green spinach and red spinach. A main dish typically costs from Rp 38,000 to Rp 58,000.
Several cafes also line the road, each presenting a different atmosphere, depending on your preference and mood.
For a laid back spot to grab a meal, head on over to Domadona coffee. Upon entering the cafe, you can't help but notice the roastery right as you step in. Boasting local coffee beans sourced from South Sulawesi, the cafe also sells their signature roasted coffee beans to enjoy at home, which include Toraja Minanga, Toraja Mamasa and Toraja Sapan.
Domadona Coffee on Jl. Wijaya I. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)
The cafe's interior, which is a mix of an industrial style layout with modern touches of wood and metal, creates a comfortable atmosphere, making it the perfect spot to spend time with friends or even alone with your work.
Nearby is Tivi, a cafe established in 1968, which also serves lunch and dinner. Outside of dining hours, the restaurant is closed, leaving only a small section open, which sells traditional Indonesian snacks, including nasi kuning.
For a fancier occasion, you could head to Pand'or to enjoy its lavish interior and colorful cakes and pastries on display, while sitting down for a coffee or tea with friends.
A special dining experience meanwhile, could take you to Leon, where you can enjoy luxurious meals and beverages in an opulent setting. One of the most talked about restaurants and bars at the moment, visitors seem enticed by the leather and metal interior basked in an abundance of of light coming in from the floor to ceiling windows during daylight.
A post shared by LEON (@leon_jakarta) on Aug 2, 2017 at 11:05pm PDT
Leon is located in the same building as another cafe, Twenty Fifth Coffee, which provides a more friendly atmosphere in comparison. (asw)
Read also: Jakpost guide to Jl. Radio Dalam
Tips:
- The cafes along Jl. Wijaya I are beautifully decorated, so it may be worth it to dress up and be ready for pictures.
- Leon transforms into a nightlife hot spot in the evening, you can check out schedules for their performing artists on their Instagram account.
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Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta Sun, September 24, 2017 13:04 1877 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a21c7892 2 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Bali-tourism,piano,Competition Free
Bali Open Piano Competition (BOPC) 2017 is entering its second day on September 24. The two-day event had its official start on the day before with the competition is being held at the ballroom of Padma Resort Legian, Kuta, Bali.
The tourism ministrys head of man-made promotion Ni Putu Gayatri said that the event is going well amid the recent alert status of Mount Agung.
Everything is going smoothly and in order, said Ni Putu.
International and local pianists from Australia, South Korea, France, Singapore, Japan, Jakarta, Bandung, Pekanbaru, Semarang and Bogor were seen busy doing registration and tuning the grand piano on September 21, one day before the competition began.
Read also: Popular tourist sites in Bali safe amid tremors around Mount Agung
The competition consists of 12 categories, divided into two groups: Six categories for 'Free Choice' group and another six for 'Selection Choice' group.
[The participants] are competing with other countries who came here with their own piano teacher and family members, said the events committee head, Eleonora Aprilita.
One participant in the category A of Free Choice group named Emma Rose Koeswandy is a six-year-old who came all the way from Sydney, Australia with both of her parents.
This is the first competition outside of Australia that Emma is participating in. Music is about exploring [the] performance, music cant be forced and theres not an instant way doing it. As a parent we have to accompany and follow the kids music process, said Lusi Koeswandy, Emmas mother.
Read also: ESSAY: Watching 'Floating Chopin' in Bali
Emma Rose has won Eistedford Ryde 2017, Australia World Category 7 and Under The Most Potential piano competitions, added Eleonora.
Lusi also said that by participating in this competition, children will have a platform to learn from other contestants. They will be trained to be in the presence of other contestants who are outside of their own community.
If it was held on school holidays, of course, it would have more participants from Australia since we can also go on a vacation while competing, told Lusi.
Another contestant named Yuhana Okumura is a Japanese pianist who is competing in the Free Choice D category.
Im so excited for this competition, seeing other great contestants makes me feeling more excited, said Yuhana. (asw)
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Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta Sun, September 24, 2017 14:02 1877 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a21c9ce7 2 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Slank,atambua Free
Rock band Slank recently rocked the Wonderful Indonesia concert that was held on Sept. 22 at Simpang Lima Public Field, Atambua, Belu, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).
Hours before Slank went up to the stage, the area was already filled with thousands of people, both locals and concertgoers from neighboring country Timor Leste.
The theme of the concert was Peace, Love, Unity and Respect, at the concert Slank performed 22 of their hits such as Gara Gara Kamu (Because of You), Virus, Ku Tak Bisa (I Cant) and Garuda Pancasila as well as songs from their 22nd album like Palalopeyank.
Slank isnt just a musician, the band is also a messenger. They have a strong influence to invite both Indonesians and people from Timor Leste to care about arts and tourism in Indonesia, said tourism minister Arief Yahya.
Read also: On the road with Jose Ramos-Horta
Prior to Slank, Atambua also hosted two renowned Indonesian rock bands Cokelat and Jamrud for a concert held on August 28. The event was attended by thousands of people from around the area as well as from Timor Leste.
Our appreciation goes out to the tourism ministry who keeps on working hard in making Atambua as a festival city. This event also means a lot for the economy, it provides income for the local people and moves the economic cycle, said Belu regent Wilibrodus Lay.
The ministry's archipelago tourism marketing development deputy Esthy Reko Astuti said that she will keep on pushing cross-border destinations as a potential market including NTT which is adjacent to Timor Leste.
One of the ministrys efforts is opening direct routes to some popular tourist areas as well as easing up the regulation at every cross-border post (PLBN).
There are three potential entrance gates in the cross-border area which are PLBN Motaain, Motamasin and Wini. The permission can be obtained easily now, added the ministrys head of man-made promotion, Ni Putu Gayatri. (asw)
Don't cry for Mitch & Paul. The truth is they never served you.
These Republican swamp dwellers only serve their own interests, which they've hitched to the wagon of the Washington establishment. To join this club, members of both parties must take an oath never to put public service or doing the right thing ahead of more important things such as getting re-elected, taking care of the powerful, and maintaining the status quo.
Now that Donald Trump has forged alliances with Democrats on disaster cleanup, immigration and possibly even tax reform, it's tough to muster sympathy for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan.
You might think some compassion would be in order. The Republican congressional leaders look painfully weak and pathetic, like a couple of teenage boys home on Saturday night because their girlfriends took other dates to the prom.
But from the sound of the public discourse, not many Americans are bothered that McConnell and Ryan have been left out in the cold. In fact, in a rare example of bipartisan agreement, elements of both parties insist that they had it coming.
As you would expect, the folks on the left have no use for these GOP leaders, other than as election-year foils. After all, my liberal friends say, McConnell and Ryan knew well before ballots were cast that they were getting behind a flawed and divisive figure with a knack for doing and saying the wrong thing.
They also knew that their party's standard-bearer had a long history of supporting Democrats and espousing liberal views. But, once Trump became the nominee, they supported him anyway.
Even after the release of the "Access Hollywood" videotape revealed Trump to be a truly despicable human being, and some Republicans called for party leaders to pull their support, McConnell and Ryan stuck by the GOP nominee.
So, as far as many Democrats are concerned, Republican leaders dug their own graves. McConnell and Ryan helped normalize Trump, and thus they empowered him. There may have been a time -- in the beginning of his campaign -- when the billionaire businessman needed their help and would have appreciated their support.
But those days are gone. If there is one thing that Trump learned on the campaign trail, it's that he could get as much mileage from working against the party establishment as he would from working with it.
Regarding all this civil warfare across the aisle, the Democrats couldn't be happier. But, as is usually the case in politics, there is a catch: There are those on the left who would rather not see Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi get cozy with Trump as they work out backroom deals. Some seem to be worried that Trump will get the best of the Democratic leaders.
Those nervous liberals needn't be concerned about that. The opposite is more likely to happen. Trump will be lucky to leave any negotiation without being fleeced by these lifelong politicians.
Meanwhile, what's much more surprising is what is happening on the right and how Trump voters are reacting to all this political horse trading.
They're not loyal to McConnell and Ryan in the least. If Trump wants to work with Democrats to address pressing issues, that's fine by them. They trust him, and they certainly can't say that about the GOP establishment.
They also seem extremely pragmatic in that they're interested in solutions over ideology. They don't seem to care who gets the credit, as long as problems get fixed and their concerns get addressed.
This makes sense. It fits the profile of the Trump voters. Having thrown their support behind a renegade and bomb-thrower who few people expected to win, they're not big on party loyalty. As such, they're the ultimate political free agents.
Suddenly, it's McConnell and Ryan who find themselves without a constituency. And it all started when they held their noses and backed Trump in the first place, without getting anything in return or modifying his behavior in any way.
Why would these two leaders humiliate themselves like that? That's easy. Because they wanted their party to win the White House at all costs.
Well, now that McConnell and Ryan are the odd men out, you have to wonder: Are they tired of winning yet?
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Voters in 15 counties soundly defeated Southeast Community Colleges $369 million bond issue last November by a nearly 2-to-1 majority.
Yet, this week, the SCC Board of Governors approved a 21 percent levy increase jumping from 7.52 cents to 9.07 cents per $100 of taxable valuation for the 2017-18 school year to pursue some of the facilities improvements sought in the unsuccessful bond issue.
Following the same boards approval of a 26 percent hike two years ago, SCCs levy has jumped from 5.98 cents to 9.07 cents, a 51 percent increase, since 2014-15. With such a steep jump, coupled with this years revaluation of residential properties in Lancaster County by far the largest county in SCCs service area the means to this end miss the mark.
Between 2009-10 and 2017-18, the taxable valuation in the 15 counties SCC serves has increased 63 percent, from $35 billion to $58 billion, according to the colleges data. During that same duration, however, the property tax revenues collected by SCC have jumped by nearly 120 percent, from about $24 million to almost $53 million.
The 21 percent increase approved Tuesday will generate just shy of $11 million more revenue than last year and $23 million more than SCC received in 2014-15.
Back in October, the Journal Star editorial board called the bond issue proposal too ambitious and rued that community colleges didnt have another mechanism to raise revenue to pay for needed improvements. Instead, we said the proper way to obtain the facilities sought by SCC was to take on critical projects one at a time, rather than all at once, because of the astonishing price tag.
After the defeat of the bond issue, SCC administrators estimated the college had building deficiencies totaling $500 million across its campuses. Those havent diminished since November, and we believe greatly in the benefits SCC and community colleges across the state contribute to Nebraskas economy.
SCC sees a need that must be filled a shortage of skilled workers who may not necessarily need a four-year degree. A lack of available space has caused some waiting lists, too. Adapting and evolving with a changing economy sometimes requires new facilities, though costly, to keep up with demand.
Certainly, the facilities paid for with revenue from the levy increase a new health sciences education center in Lincoln, new classroom space in Beatrice and a diesel technology facility in Milford are worthwhile. But SCCs leaders must practice patience and fiscal prudence to bring them to reality.
Though the goal of modernizing buildings and expanding a physical presence to other communities in SCCs service area is noble, hiking the levy by leaps and bounds again isnt the proper approach to create needed change.
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has sent a loud message to women, especially college-aged women, that there is no support from this administration if they are sexually assaulted or raped on campus.
DeVos seems more interested in undoing the previous administrations instructions on how schools must investigate and adjudicate accusations of sexual violence than creating a more equitable solution a trend that has been evident throughout the Trump administration.
While DeVos should solicit public feedback before putting new policies in place, when she includes the voices of mens rights activists who belong to groups that have been classified as "hate groups" and are claiming to be "victimized," one is left to wonder who these policies are intended to protect.
Young people deserve better than this. They deserve access to comprehensive education that discusses healthy relationships, consent and intimate partner violence.
One of the top providers of this education in our area is Planned Parenthood of the Heartland. These educators are experts in the field of sexual health and are trained in inclusive and trauma-informed approaches. However, funding for these education programs and Planned Parenthood have been threatened or eliminated under this current administration.
The Education Secretary should be the biggest champion of prevention education, but she instead chooses to admonish the largest provider of sex education in the nation.
Meghan Francis, Omaha
An opportunity for foodies and beer lovers to get lost in a world of food and drink from a hand-selected range of food trucks and breweries from around New Zealand.
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Dembowski of 2105 Lakeshore Drive, Kansasville, celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary with family and friends at Michaels Restaurant in Kansasville on July 22.
Dembowski and the former Shirley Francois were married on Sept. 4, 1947, in St. Rita Catholic Church.
Dembowski was employed by Christensen Machine before becoming the owner of Michaels Machine Co. on Douglas Avenue. He started the business in the basement of the house on Douglas Avenue until he could build and move the machinery into a new building next door.
Dembowski, 96, served in the U.S. Navy as a small sub-chaser. He is a member of the Veterans Club in Kansasville, and sold can holders for the V.A. Auxiliary at Racine County Fair every year. He cooks and bakes bread.
Mrs. Dembowski was born in Racine and went to Gilbert Knapp School until her father lost his job. A relative in Oconto called and gave them her farm. She graduated from Oconto High School and came back to Racine, where she worked as a secretary at the Wisconsin Gas and Electric Co. until she was married. She later became the secretary at Michaels Machine Co.
Mrs. Dembowski is a member of the V.A. Auxiliary, sews for the elderly in Florida, makes baby blankets and bag holders for fairs in Florida.
They built a house on Eagle Lake where they spend their summers and they winter in Florida.
The couple has two daughters: Kathy (Timothy) Johnson of Boynton Beach, Fla.; and Michele (Neel) Long of Heathrow, Fla. They have two grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
This year, when we are celebrating 70 years of our independence, it is also the time when 70 years have passed since the tragic Partition that created havoc in the lives of people who became homeless and witnessed unprecedented violence that tore apart families. For a long time, people would remember the Partition with pain and horror and talk about it to their next generations, in both countries.
As time is a great healer, the shock and suffering has perhaps, begun fading somewhat and the beautiful memories of the good times are beginning to resurface. Bridge Across the Rivers:Partition Memories from the Two Punjabs, a book brought out recently by Niyogi Books, is a collection of stories by authors from both countries (translated into English from Punjabi and Urdu) that takes us on a journey of warmth and affection, of love and attachment in the context of the division of the country and the terror and bloodshed it brought in its wake.
Edited by Jasbir Jain and Tripti Jain, who witnessed the partition as children, the book has 16 moving tales and is dedicated to the faith of those who build bridges and cross over in friendship. In the introduction titled Partition, Dislocated Homes and Homelands, the editors write that in their placing, the narratives gradually become a narrative of expectation, hope and harmony, its sudden disruption, flight and violence over and over again they raise the question: how do we remember the past.
There is one story Gurbachan Singh BhullarsFattu the Bard (Translated by Hina Nandrajog) that expresses the experience of returning home after the Partition as Fattu comes back to his native village from Pakistan to settle down there again. He lost a son and daughter in the Partition but his sense of belonging struggles to absorb those losses.
Many of the stories are based on personal experiences. Some writers admit that they are writing about their own memories. Mohinder Singh Sarnas story,A Defender of Humanity (translated by Navtej Sarna) talks about a Pathan driver who stakes his own life to ferry his passengers across the border, from Rawalpindi to Srinagar. Violence and survival, evacuation and rehabilitation are the issues dealt by these stories, all of which have the same intensity that is associated with the experience of the Partition and its memories.
Baldev SinghsCome, Sister Fatima (translated by Hina Nandrajog) is a very powerful story in which an old woman holds on to her friends spinning wheel that was handed over to her during the Partition , indifferent to the slim chance of ever restoring it to her. She tells her son about Fatima, her friend.
I met her in my dream yesterday. No one can stop that, can they? In several other stories in the anthology, there is an inevitable return to the past, seeking in it moments of shared happiness and belonging .Surjit Sarnas two stories The Distance to Lahore (Translated by Jasbir Jain) and A Bunch of Narcissus (translated by Tripti Jain) are about the years 1946 and 1947 and graphically portray the creeping in of a sense of desolation on the city of Lahore as friends and lovers are pulled part, as lives are dislocated, dreams die and flowers fade.
A Bunch of Narcissus is a narrative of disappointed love and a romantic relationship cut short. Keki Dauwallas Black Waters, Dark Well crosses over from the present to the past and then back again. It paints a dark moment in the countrys Partition when young love is sacrificed. The lovers panic due to the violence and are driven to death by jumping into a well.
Tahira Iqbals Ones Own Country (translated byTripti Jain) describes fond memories of the pre-Partition years as well as the sense of loss of ones motherland. Remembrance, regret, guilt and nostalgia are the emotions touched by this story as well as by Sanwal Dhamis Ointment (translated by Tripti Jain) which is the last story in the collection.
In Ointment, we see Fazal returning from Lahore in Pakistan to his village Nauru Nangal for a few days, many years after the Partition. The love and respect showered on him by his old friends and neighbours overwhelm him. It was Karamdin, Fazals father, who was known for an ointment which could heal the oldest and deepest wound (a formula that had come down the generations).
When Fazal comes to visit India, he brings a boxful of this marham as a gift for the villagers. When he leaves for Lahore, he says May Allah save everyone from further tragedy. May no one be inflicted with wounds. And, if they are, then this ointment would surely heal their wounds.
I have given the prescription of this ointment to Amolak. Farewell. Each story pulls at our hearts; the emotions described are strong and deep. For those who remember the Partition, this is, no doubt, a cathartic experience. But even for others, it evokes emotions that are eternal. Pity, fear, sympathy, longing, nostalgia, terror and the tendency to look back at the past all of these hold the stories close together and keep us gripped to this wealth of memories. They are beautiful as well as ugly.
Jairam Ramesh states he did not set out to assess or judge Indira Gandhi but in the process of depicting the former prime ministers love for nature and the environment, he has produced a superb book. He has told us all we need to know and considerably more about Indira Gandhis interest since early childhood in trees, birds, animals and ecological balance. Although I was born on one of the flattest plains of the world, I have always regarded myself as a child of the mountains, she writes wistfully.
In fact, such is the measure of Rameshs research that this work could well be described as the Collected Works of Indira Gandhi on Trees, Birds, Animals and Reptiles. Indira drew greatly from her father Jawaharlal Nehrus interest in natural history; his influence was seminal. So also was her uncle Kailas Nath Kauls, a botanist and collector of snakes. Indira was a naturalist and considered herself as one.
I have always loved trees, trees more than flowers. And animals she wrote, Bird watching is one of the most absorbing and rewarding activities. She is credited with several legislative interventions and personal initiatives to protect wildlife, forests and the environment. She saw nature and culture as two sides of the same coin, and her aim was to strike a balance between ecology and economic growth. Her interest holistically embraced town planning, conservation of old monuments and architecture.
Ramesh is a fine and persuasive writer, with only occasional instances of overwriting. He gives us some unexpected facts, such as the inclusion of a famous ornithologist in the US team that came to India to condole Indiras death, and the cheetah was, and still is, the only mammal to have become extinct in India. Indiras network of international wildlife enthusiasts was vast and each finds a mention in this book. So do the many institutions in India and abroad she either set up or supported. Herein lies the rub. If one dares carp at what is obviously an emotional enterprise on the authors part, it is that he overburdens the reader with excessive detail.
An equally telling but much shorter book could have been produced with strict editing; the enumerations of species protected lion, tiger, rhino, crocodile, deer, fish, black buck and their habitats Bharatpur, Sariska, Kanha, Gir, Corbett, Guindy, Chilka, Dudhwa, Sultanpur are repetitious and wearying, and the multiple quotations from correspondence become tiresome as the book progresses to its 400-page plus conclusion. So too are the various institutions with which Indira was associated, with their initials IBWL, UNEP, BNHS, ISCON, IUCN, NCEPC et al strewn among the pages without the benefit of a table of abbreviations.
Not surprisingly, the cast of characters is also vast; some of the heroes are Karan Singh, Salim Ali, Pitambar Pant, even the egregious Bansi Lal; together with some of Indiras staff such as Malhoutra, Haidar and Rajamani. It is unusual for a former minister such as Ramesh to give any credit to civil servants who propose but never dispose, and perhaps he exaggerates their contribution. The villains are the usual suspects; some chief ministers, members of parliament and the military, who did little to appreciate or support the prime minister.
This is a well-produced book that gives considerable satisfaction in its appearance, its original jacket cover, and its excellent photos. Some excerpts of correspondence are so personal that it makes the reader feel as uneasy as a voyeur. The prime ministers political career is well moulded into the text without detracting from the authors main theme.
Ramesh stresses more than once the frustrations of implementing measures in a federal structure, and takes pains to show that Indiras reputation as autocratic was unjustified, at least as far as this aspect of her interest and activities were concerned, Environmentalists worry about a single objective.
Political leaders have to balance competing demands and choose, if not the most desirable, then at least the least undesirable option In fact more of the authors own reflections and obiter dicta would have been all to the good. The bustard, he writes, already endangered, faced near extinction, till the bird came to Indira Gandhisattention This aspect might have been worth further attention does it reveal the Indians propensity to do nothing unless a directive comes from above, or the inclination to refer all matters, however obvious, to the highest possible level or both?
Rameshs considerable achievement, apart from filling a gap in the knowledge of Indira Gandhi with a well-merited account of her dedication to nature, is to make his readers like and respect Indira Gandhi more than they did before they started this book.
A short chapter indicating to what extent Indiras successors carried forward her ideas on ecological balance would have rounded the story off. And what a shame Indira did not get round to tackling sound pollution with vigour! No population in the world is as afflicted with it as grievously or as consistently as us unfortunate Indians.
(The reviewer is Indias former Foreign Secretary)
Indias rice output is likely to fall by 1.9 million tonnes (MT) to 94.48 MT in kharif season this year on account of poor rain as well as floods, official sources said.
The production of pulses and coarse cereals is estimated to have fallen, dragging the overall foodgrains output in kharif (summer-sown) season to 134.67 MT from record 138.52 MT in last kharif, as per the sources.
Kharif foodgrain basket comprises rice, pulses and coarse cereals. Harvesting will start from next month.
Barring sugarcane, the production of all major kharif crops is likely to decline.
The Union Agriculture Ministry will release its first advance estimate on Monday.
Rice ouptut is estimated to fall at 94.48 MT in the kharif season of the 2017-18 crop year (July-June) from the record 96.39 MT in last kharif, the official who did not wish to be named said.
Pulses output could drop to 8.71 MT from the record 9.42 MT due to depressed prices and poor rains. The production of tur and urad are pegged at 3.99 MT and 2.53 MT, respectively.
Suspected Naxals killed a 57-year- old revenue official of a village on suspicion of him being a police informer in Chhattisgarhs Kanker district, police said today.
The rebels attacked the kotwar, identified as Sukku Nareti, last night in Sureli village under Antagarh police station area, Kankers Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Jaipraksh Badhai said.
A group of armed ultras stormed into Naretis house and dragged him out on the street. They then strangled him with a rope and threw the body on a road near the village, the police official said quoting eyewitnesses.
The ultras then fled the spot raising slogans in support of the outlawed Naxal movement, he said.
A police team visited the spot this morning and sent the body for postmortem, the ASP said.
Some Maoists pamphlets were recovered from the spot in which Nareti was branded as a police informer, he said.
A search has been launched to nab the assailants, the police official added.
Incidents of fresh violence rocked West Bengals Darjeeling hills on Sunday as a vehicle on way to Lebong area in the district was set ablaze allegedly by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) activists, police said.
A vehicle moving from Darjeeling to Lebong was vandalised and torched by pro-shutdown GJM activists on Sunday morning. One person was injured, Darjeeling Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Kumar Chaturvedi said.
He said no one was so far detained in the case.
A number of shops and other business establishments opened in Darjeeling on Sunday after remaining shut for 101 days over the demand for separate Gorkhaland.
Though the GJM-sponsored indefinite shutdown has not been lifted from the area, pockets of Darjeeling hills were limping back to life as schools, colleges and government offices have started to function since the last one week.
The state government has appealed to the local populace to lift the shutdown and assured necessary security to those willing to open their shops or resume business activities.
A section of hill parties spearheading the agitation, including the GJM, remain defiant over the withdrawal demand till tripartite talks between the central and state governments and other stakeholders are organised.
Kolkata might be the cynosure of Durga Puja celebrations, but not far behind is the national capital, which plays host to more than 350 pandals (marquees). And the Kashmere Gate Durga Puja has been continuing this yearly ritual for the past 108 years, making it Delhis oldest Puja.
Its theme has always been traditional. From maintaining the quintessential sabeki ek-chala-thakur (traditional one platform) goddess Durga to carrying the idol in a bullock cart for the visarjan (immersion), this Puja stands out against the rest.
The bullock cart visarjan is organised only by us. No other pandals organise such a procession in the national capital, Samarendra Bose, a committee member of the Delhi Durga Puja Samiti,said.
And the Bhog! It is also a highlight of our celebration. Every year we feed the afternoon meal to around five to six thousand people. And on Ashtami (the eighth day), the turnout crosses more than 10,000. Its a big responsibility on our shoulders and we make sure that everything goes smoothly during the Puja, he said.
Theres quite a history attached to this Puja. Due to the efforts of an unnamed railway employee, the first Puja was organised in 1909 at the Roshanpura Kali Mandir near Nai Sarak. From 1913 to 1946, the Puja used to be organised in a dharamshala (community hall) near Fatehpuri Mosque. Later it was shifted to the Bengali Senior Secondary School at Alipur Road near Civil Lines but the nomenclature continued unchanged.
In the initial years, the idol used to be brought from Benaras, but from 1926, the idol began to be made in the city itself. And now its made within the school premises, Bose stated.
What hasnt changed are the customs associated with the Puja. No matter how popular theme pujas are becoming, the Kashmere Gate Puja continues to be a traditional one.
Theme idols can never reflect the charm or the beauty of a traditional one. We dont bring the idol from CR Park or Kolkata; rather it is made inside the school premises, like the way it happens in home Pujas, Bose pointed out.
For the five days the Puja lasts, the atmoshphere within the pandal turns into a mini Bengal. From people clad in their traditional attire to cultural programmes and, of course, Bengalis favourite cuisine biryani turns it into a major draw.
We organise cultural programmes but only the local residents participate. We dont invite artists (like most pandals do). Also, we make sure that at least during the five days, all the functions are conducted in Bengali, Bose said.
The charm of this Durga Puja couldnt even be ignored by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who visited the pandal in 1969. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is also believed to have attended the celebrations in 1935.
The priest and the dhakis (drummers) have been brought from Kolkata. We make sure that there is no dearth of bhog. After all its a major attraction of Kashmere Gate Durga Puja, Bose said.
So, make sure that Kashmere Gate Puja is on the must-visit pandals list this year!
Director Hansal Mehta, who is writing the film adaptation of The Accidental Prime Minister, says the movie will have a balanced account of Dr Manmohan Singhs stint as the prime minister.
The movie is based on the book of the same name written by Singhs former media adviser Sanjaya Baru.
Filmmakers often face trouble from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and political outfits if a movie has a political background. Mehta, however, says he does not get bothered by such pressure.
In an interview, Mehta says, I am never bothered about it. The Accidental Prime Minister is in early stages of development. It is an important film and the idea is to make it in a very balanced manner.
Actor Anupam Kher will play the role of the former prime minister in the movie.
The 2014 memoir gives a detailed account of Singhs tenure (2004-2014) and an insight into the Indian political scenario during those years.
The film, slated to release later next year, will be directed by debutant Vijay Ratnakar Gutte.
Mehta is excited about his upcoming directorial venture Omerta. The film chronicles the story of the British-born terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who kidnapped and murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.
Omerta is a political thriller and it had its world premier in Toronto. It is explosive and can be controversial.
But I am not shying away from it, says the director.
Mehta adds that be it Shahid or now Omerta, he has never struggled to find like-minded people, who support a true story and not shy away from taking risks.
I have never struggled to find like-minded people, who would support your vision wholeheartedly and give the film as much love as you would give it. Money is the by-product. You need people to invest in your ideas.
The makers are planning to release Omerta later this year or early next year.
Clashes between students and police officials broke out at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on late Saturday night, after police lathi-charged on protesting.
According to media reports, several students were injured in the clashes, who were protesting against alleged molestation of a university girl and the failure of the administration to act against the attackers.
Women students were also latthi-charged by the police, who allegedly tried to enter women hostel.
The protests began on Thursday after a resident of a womens hostel was allegedly molested by bike-borne men inside the campus.
The student lodged a complaint with the office of the proctor, which is responsible for campus security but the chief proctor refused to take action and some officials allegedly tried to blame the student, sources said.
Angry students launched a protest, demanding action against the men who attacked the girl.
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav expressed his concern and condemned the use of force against the students on Twitter.
Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) September 24, 2017
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on social media criticised the action taken by the authorities.
BJP version of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao in BHU https://t.co/2XWIG5CG2q Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) September 24, 2017
Politician Yogindra Yadav posted a tweet asking the government to protect girls in the university.
Barbaric lathi charge on protesting girl students of BHU by police and the proctorial gang, many girls injured.
Beti Bachao sarkar! Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) September 23, 2017
A heavy police force has been deployed at BHU to control the situation.
Two soldiers were injured on Sunday after Pakistan indiscriminately fired at forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Balakote sector of Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir, the Army said.
The exchange of fire between the two sides lasted for nearly 30-minutes. Army sources have ruled out action by Pakistans Border Action Team (BAT).
A defence spokesperson said, Pakistani troops opened fire and shelled forward posts along the LoC in Bhimber Gali area of Balakote sector around 0300 hours, resulting in injuries to two soldiers.
Hundreds of border residents have been forced to leave their homes and take shelter at camps set up by the government due to indiscriminate shelling and firing by Pakistani troops.
Pakistans Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi in its attempt to take on India at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), tried to pass off a photo of an injured Gaza girl as a Kashmiri.
Lodhi was responding to Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swarajs description of Pakistan as an export factory for terror.
However, the photo Lodhi displayed to highlight the alleged atrocities in Jammu and Kashmir was taken by an award-winning photographer Heidi Levine inside the Gaza strip in 2014. The photo is of a 17-year-old Rawya Abu Jom, who was injured when two Israeli airstrikes hit her familys apartment in Gaza during the 2014 war.
Exercising the Right of Reply, Lodhi accused India of crimes against humanity and of carrying out a campaign of brutality in the Kashmir.
To prove her point, she held the photo of the girl whose face was riddled with wounds, which later was spotted by multiple media portals as misrepresentation of information.
Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad took shared a post social media to criticise the step taken by Pakistan in UN.
China and India are working together to take forward their relationship leaving behind the Dokalam episode, the Chinese Consul General here has said.
Chinese Consul General Ma Zhanwu also asserted that by working together cooperation and exchanges can be further enhanced.
India and China are working together. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping had a meeting on September 5 to discuss how to enhance the relationship, Zhanwu said here last night while addressing an event to mark the 68th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China.
As long as the two countries work together, we will able to enhance and develop exchanges and cooperation, he said.
Asked if both the countries have left behind the Dokalam episode, Zhanwu said, Yes we have left that behind and are working together to take forward the bilateral relationship.
Prime Minister Modi had met President Xi on the sidelines of the 9th BRICS Summit on September 5.
The two leaders had agreed that both the countries should put in more effort to strengthen the cooperation between their security personnel and ensure that Dokalam-like incidents do not recur.
The Chinese and the Indian troops were engaged in a prolonged standoff in the Dokalam area of the Sikkim sector since June 16 after the Indian side stopped the construction of a road by the Chinese Army.
On August 28, Indias External Affairs Ministry announced that New Delhi and Beijing have decided on expeditious disengagement of their border troops in the disputed Dokalam area.
Shopkeepers, among them grain sellers specially, are often accused of cheating by giving short weight.
Nadir Shahs 1739 massacre in Delhi followed a dispute between Persian soldiers and a dealer selling pigeon feed (some say also birds). Earlier in the 14th century Alauddin Khilji had fixed prices of all edible items and punished with a heavy hand those who violated the order.
Sher Shah Suri was equally stern two centuries later. Many years ago one lived in Devnagar, mainly inhabited then by Reghars, who kept a very stern eye on their women, with daily evening beatings of some for allegedly staring at neighbours or passers-by.
One of them came up the stairs of this scribes house, quite drunk and abusive. He had just slapped his wife, accusing her of exchanging glances with the neighbour (me), when the poor girl was actually trying to cheer up the crying child in his arms.
In such an ambience there were aggressive grocers , no doubt in the area market, who tried to hoodwink customers. But there was an exception: a bulky silver-haired dealer of a Fair Price shop.
Before putting each weighed quantity of wheat in the customers bag, he would religiously intone, Barkat ji, meaning blessing on you. No wonder he came to be known as Barkatji.
The man must be dead now but one still remembers him for another thing too. Once in the wheat there were too many suris (grain bugs). A customer with a big tilak on his forehead remarked that such grain should be sold to meat eaters alone.
Barkatji retorted, Only things which should be eaten are eaten, not everything. It was a very pragmatic reply from one, who himself was a strict vegetarian. Where do you find such shopkeepers now?
US President Donald Trump has warned the new missile successfully tested by Iran on Friday may be able to reach Israel.
Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea, Donald Trump wrote on his personal Twitter account on Saturday, Efe news reported.
Not much of an agreement we have! the President added in his tweet, apparently alluding to the agreement signed in 2015 between Tehran and six international powers, including the US, on the Islamic Republics nuclear programme.
The President tweeted the brief message after Iranian media reported that Iran successfully tested its new ballistic missile, called Khorramshahr, with a range of 2,000 km, which was unveiled on Friday for the first time during a military parade in Tehran.
The missile was launched from an unknown location in Iran and a few hours after it was shown during the parade, the Iranian television channel Press TV released a video of the launch, on Saturday.
The Khorramshahr missile was paraded Friday, despite warnings from the US against Irans weapons program, in the presence of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and senior military leaders.
This new arms build-up is taking place despite the fact that Washington has imposed several rounds of sanctions against Iranian entities and individuals linked to the Tehran missile program in recent months.
This week, Trump left his allies in the lurch by announcing that he has made a decision on his countrys participation in the nuclear agreement signed with Iran in 2015, a pact that, according to his government, has clearly not met their expectations.
I have already decided, he told reporters about his stance on the Iran agreement during one of his meetings in New York, where he was at the UN General Assembly, without divulging his decision.
In his address to the UN General Assembly on September 19, Trump declared that the nuclear agreement is a disgrace that his government could abandon, if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program.
The nuclear agreement, signed in July 2015 by Iran and six major powers (US, Russia, China, France, UK and Germany), ended 12 years of conflict over the Islamic Republics controversial nuclear programme.
India-US defence cooperation is set to get a boost when US Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis visits India next week during which he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hold talks with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The visit, from September 26-28, is the first Cabinet-level visit to India under the Trump administration.
It will help underscore the enduring US commitment to strategic partner India, said a US Embassy press release.
Mattis will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the India Gate, meet Sitharaman, and also Prime Minister Modi.
The Secretary will emphasize that the United States views India as a valued and influential partner, with broad mutual interests extending well beyond South Asia. The Secretary will also express US appreciation for Indias important contributions toward Afghanistans democracy, stability, prosperity, and security, a Pentagon press release said.
His visit comes after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held talks with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in New York earlier this week on how their two countries can jointly fight terrorism and promote security in the Indo-Pacific region.
This follows President Donald Trumps announcement last month that strategic partnership with India would be a critical part of the South Asia strategy for America, placing those issues high on the bilateral agenda.
The two discussed regional issues, with a focus of Pakistan, Afghanistan and terrorism and reviewed all aspects all the bilateral relationship, including expanding our trade and investment relations.
In his speech on new Afghanistan policy last month, Trump had said a critical part of the South Asia strategy for America is to further develop its strategic partnership with India and asked for more help from India in Afghanistan, where he was recalibrating US policy.
remaining of
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This list is not comprehensive. Municipalities are listed as they appear on the criminal complaint. Suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. To see mugshots of the accused, visit www.journaltimes.com/gallery. Additional information about the complaints can be found at: journaltimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts.
Mason A. Alioto, 8300 block of Greenbriar Road, Wind Lake, maintaining a drug trafficking place, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of marijuana.
Dennis O. Beard, 18900 block of W. Coffee Road, New Berlin, bail jumping, possession of cocaine, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Arnell N. Broughton, 900 block of Hamilton St., Racine, possession of a firearm by a felon, and obstructing an officer.
Tieria S. Brown, address unknown, Racine, criminal trespass, and disorderly conduct.
Kayla M. Bublitz, 3800 block of Wyoming Way, Racine, delivery of schedule I or II narcotics, possession with intent to deliver/distribute a controlled substance on or near a school, and maintaining a drug trafficking place.
Elias J. Burgos, 2300 block of S. 19th St., Milwaukee, first degree intentional homicide, and use of a dangerous weapon.
Heatheranne Caruso, 1200 block of Melvin Ave., Racine, possession with intent to deliver or manufacture marijuana.
Daniel R. Clark, 100 block of N. Milwaukee St., Plymouth, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana, possession of a firearm by a felon, concealing stolen firearm, and bail jumping.
Travian J. Clark, 5000 block of Byrd Ave., Racine, manufacture/deliver cocaine.
Brian S. Coey, 2500 block of Phillips Ave., Racine, manufacture/deliver cocaine, and burglary of a building or dwelling.
Glenn E. Conroy Jr., 600 block of S. Green Bay Road, Mount Pleasant, fourth degree sexual assault.
Larry Cook, 1200 block of Carlisle Ave., Racine, theft, and resisting an officer.
Timothy P. Day, 2000 block of DeKoven Ave., Racine, theft.
James R. Degerstedt, 1300 block of 43rd St., Caledonia, operating while intoxicated.
Kent A. DeGroot, 1500 block of Kremer Ave., Racine, aggravated battery-physically disabled, domestic abuse assessments, and disorderly conduct.
Dawson P. Demant, 3300 block of 51st St., Franksville, possession with intent to deliver or manufacture marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possess/illegally obtained prescription.
Alexandria B. Ellsworth, 4000 block of 39th Ave., Kenosha, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana, possession of a firearm by a felon, and concealing stolen firearm.
Beverly Fisher, 1300 block of N. Wisconsin St., Racine, bail jumping, and operate motor vehicle while revoked.
Ryan F. Gast, 500 block of Sixth St., Waterford, theft.
Lukas S. Goller, 100 block of S. First St., Watertown, possession of narcotic drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia, and bail jumping.
David J. Grauer, 500 block of Dunbar Ave., Waukesha, possession of drug paraphernalia, operate motor vehicle while revoked, operate with detectable amount of restricted controlled substance in blood causing injury, operating with restricted controlled substance in blood, and bail jumping.
Nicholas D. Harlan, 5300 block of N. 87th St., Milwaukee, attempting to flee or elude a traffic officer.
Michael R. Harrington, 4200 block of Olive St., Racine, attempting to flee or elude a traffic officer, and obstructing an officer.
Sheldon R. Hawkins, 3100 block of W. Flournoy Ave., Chicago, Ill., battery, criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct.
Sean E. L. Herndon Jr., 900 block of Chicago St., Racine, theft in a business setting.
Cornelius S. Jackson, 1300 block of Thurston Ave., Racine, obstructing an officer.
Demetrius L. Johnson, 1900 block of Phillips Ave., Racine, obstructing an officer, battery, domestic abuse assessments, use of a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct, and criminal damage to property.
Reginald A. Johnson, 2700 block of N. 21st St., Milwaukee, possession of a firearm while intoxicated.
Darrell D. Jones, 3900 block of Erie St., Racine, battery, domestic abuse assessments, and disorderly conduct.
Joshua J. Kroes, 1700 block of Lydian Drive, Racine, possession of narcotic drugs, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Bridgette M. Lagalbo, 2000 block of S. 12th St., Milwaukee, manufacture/deliver marijuana, distribution to minors, contribute to delinquency-ACTS/omissions.
Rodolfo R. Lopez, 4500 block of Byrd Ave., Racine, manufacture/deliver heroin.
Zavon Q. Luckett, 900 block of Peck Ave., Racine, disorderly conduct.
James E. Marlow Jr., 3900 block of Erie St., Racine, disorderly conduct, domestic abuse assessments, and bail jumping.
Amber J. Martin, 600 block of Meadow Lane, Burlington, recklessly endangering safety, and theft by acquisition of a credit card.
Sarah L. Mastaglio, 8700 block of Buckingham Drive, Sturtevant, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Jeffrey E. McGraw, 600 block of Meadow Lane, Burlington, recklessly endangering safety, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Deion M. McMorris, 3800 block of Washington Ave., Racine, bail jumping, and attempt criminal trespass.
Francene J. Mickelson, 2300 block of Kinzie Ave., Racine, aggravated battery, use of a dangerous weapon, battery, and disorderly conduct.
Keith A. Mickelson, 6800 block of Middle Road, Racine, criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct, and bail jumping.
Kristopher J. Miller, 800 block of Eighth St., Racine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of marijuana.
Colton K. Newman, 2500 block of Honey Creek Circle, East Troy, bail jumping, and operate motor vehicle while revoked.
Justin A. Onslow, 1600 block of Edgewood Ave., Racine, battery, domestic abuse assessments, disorderly conduct, and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Robert R. Petty Jr., 2500 block of Jerome Blvd., Racine, possession of marijuana, and bail jumping.
Adrian P. Pitel, Prospect Drive, Muskego, criminal trespass, and theft.
Rajelio Ramirez, 3400 block of 92nd St., Sturtevant, attempting to flee or elude a traffic officer, recklessly endangering safety, and obstructing an officer.
Jeremy A. Randall, 2600 block of E. Adams Court, Cudahy, robbery with use of force, substantial battery, physical abuse of a child-intentionally cause bodily harm, intent contribute to the delinquency of a child, and strangulation and suffocation.
Stephne L. Ransom, 1600 block of Winslow St., Racine, possession of narcotic drugs, possession of marijuana, possession of cocaine, obstructing an officer, and fail/cause child to attend school.
Bryan M. Robertson, 10300 block of Caddy Lane, Caledonia, battery, domestic abuse assessments, criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct, operate motor vehicle while revoked, and bail jumping.
Kevin A. Robinson, 900 block of Wisconsin Ave., Racine, recklessly endangering safety, and manufacture/deliver heroin.
Jeanette A. Rule, 1500 block of Thurston Ave., Racine, burglary of a building or dwelling, and criminal damage to property.
Gabriela M. Sanchez, 1400 block of Villa St., Racine, physical abuse of a child-intentionally cause bodily harm, and physical abuse of a child.
Pauline F. Sanders, 22700 block of Deer Meadow Drive, Kansasville, bail jumping, and intentionally abuse a hazardous substance.
Chad D. Schlaikowski, 1900 block of E. Iron St., Milwaukee, bail jumping.
Michael Schroeder, 1500 block of S. Laurie Lane, New Berlin, possession of narcotic drugs, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and bail jumping.
Michael E. Shirley, 4800 block of 26th Ave., Kenosha, operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, operate motor vehicle while revoked, and bail jumping.
Alan G. Spence, 4800 block of N. Green Bay Road, Racine, possession of narcotic drugs, possess/illegally obtained prescription, possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Andrea R. Stephens-Ball, 4200 block of S. Beaumont Ave., Kansasville, physical abuse of a child-intentionally cause bodily harm, disorderly conduct, and child neglect.
Abdallahi H. Sy, 1400 block of Midland Blvd., University City, Mo., personal identity theft.
Marlo L. Thomas, 1600 block of Morton Ave., Racine, forceful abduction of a child, physical abuse of a child, intentionally cause bodily harm, and contributing to the delinquency of a child.
Jody J. Wyskochil, 1700 block of Durand Ave., Mount Pleasant, operating while intoxicated.
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 ...
Patnaik's close aides say that to understand him, one has to understand his empathy
By Pratul Sharma/Photos Sanjay Ahlawat
OPEC and other oil producers are clearing a glut that has weighed on crude prices for three years and may wait until January before deciding whether to extend their output curbs beyond the first quarter of 2018, ministers said on Friday.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and several other producers have cut production by about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) since the start of 2017, helping lift oil prices by 15 percent in the past three months.
OPEC and its allies have been considering extending the deal beyond the end of March when it is due to expire.
Russias energy minister said no decision was expected before January, although other ministers suggested such a decision could be taken before the end of this year.
I think we can return to this issue not earlier than January next year, Russias Alexander Novak said when asked about a timeline for any decision on extending the pact to curb supplies.
Speaking after Fridays meeting of oil ministers in Vienna, he also said OPEC and the other producers needed to continue working closely together well into 2018.
We need not only to keep up the pace but continue our coordinated joint actions in full, but also work out a strategy for the future, to which we will stick starting from April 2018, he said, adding oil demand was rising at a high pace.
Other ministers said a decision on extending cuts could be taken in November when OPEC holds its next formal meeting.
In November, were going to take decisions, Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino told reporters, adding the group was evaluating all the options including an extension to the pact.
Benchmark Brent crude is now trading at more than $56 a barrel, although it is still half the level it was in mid-2014.
MARKET REBALANCING
Kuwaiti Oil Minister Essam al-Marzouq, who chaired Fridays meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, said supply cuts were helping cut global crude inventories to their five-year average, OPECs stated target.
Since our last meeting in July, the oil market has markedly improved, Marzouq said as he opened the Vienna gathering. The market is now evidently well on its way towards rebalancing.
He said there were a number of positives in the market, including stock levels in industrialised OECD states in August that were 170 million barrels above the five-year average, down from 340 million barrels in January.
He also said oil in floating storage was falling and cited a shift of benchmark Brent prices into backwardation, a market condition in which it is more attractive to sell oil immediately rather than keeping it stored. This indicates tighter supplies.
The Kuwaiti minister also said the ministerial monitoring group would continue watching production data, but would also propose a review of export data as well.
OPEC officials have said exports have a more direct impact on the international supply than production.
The supply pact sets production limits for participating OPEC and non-OPEC states but puts no restrictions on export levels, so some producers have been able to keep exports relatively high by dipping into their stored reserves.
In addition, rising crude prices have encouraged U.S. shale oil producers to ramp up output, a further reason why the drawdown on global inventories has taken longer than expected.
Ministers from Libya and Nigeria, both OPEC members but exempted from supply curbs as their oil industries recover from years of unrest, were invited to Fridays meeting.
The Kuwaiti minister said the two nations would contribute to supply cut deal once their production stabilises.
Back from a fortnight-long trip to the US which reverberated politically in India, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is set to hit the campaign trail in poll-bound Gujarat. He will embark on a three-day election yatra in the state on Monday, starting from Dwarka in Saurashtra region.
Gandhi is scheduled to start the campaign with a visit to the famed Dwarkadhish Temple, and over the next three days, he will travel the Saurashtra region in a specially designed bus, holding meetings with various groups of representatives, including farmers, traders, grassroot-level elected representatives and members of the Patidar community.
Having impressed all with his speeches in the US, in which he targetted Modi government and outlined his vision for the country and for the Congress, Gandhi, who is expected to take over as party president next month, would be looking to make an impact as an election campaigner in Gujarat.
Among the issues to be raised by him are problems faced by farmers, losses incurred by the trading community, unemployment and alleged government apathy towards the flood-hit people.
The Congress scion is scheduled to undertake four yatras in the state where he sounded the poll bugle on September 4 when he addressed a meeting of grassroot-level elected representatives of the party in Ahmedabad. Each yatra will span three to four days.
While in Saurashtra, Gandhi will move from Dwarka to Jamnagar and thereon to Rajkot, where he will visit the Khodaldham Temple, which is dedicated to a deity of the Patidars. He will interact with representatives of the Patidar community. On the last day, he will visit Surendranagar and then Viramgam. The Congress vice president is also expected to take part in Navratra celebrations. Saurashtra is important electorally as it sends one-third of the elected representatives to the state assembly. It is also the home turf of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
The Congress has been out of power in Gujarat for 19 years now and Gandhi has the tough job of getting the faction-ridden state unit of the party poll-ready.
The party is in the process of preparing its manifesto for the elections and is crowd sourcing ideas for it under a programme called 'Ichcha Tamari, Sankalp Hamaro' (Your wish, our commitment). Its campaign slogan 'Congress Aave Che, Navsarjan Lave Che' conveys the promise that the party will bring about a resurgence in Gujarat.
A militant was killed on Sunday in an ongoing gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir's border town of Uri, police said.
The security forces launched an operation after receiving specific inputs about militants hiding in the Kalghi forest area.
"As the cordon was tightened, the militants opened fire at the security forces triggering the gunfight," a police official said.
RACINE COUNTY With the Foxconn Technology Group set to begin building a massive facility to produce liquid crystal display screens for Apple products, details about its location and local impact arent widely known.
The legislature passed a $2.85 billion incentive package, signed Monday into law by Gov. Scott Walker, that provides tax credits to Foxconn if the company meets certain benchmarks.
The Journal Times asked local legislators state Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine; Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester; and state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, about what will happen locally once Foxconn arrives.
The responses are listed in alphabetical order. State Rep. Tom Weatherston, R-Caledonia, declined to participate.
What will happen if some owners of property Foxconn needs refuse to sell?
Mason: Foxconn has stated it needs more than 1,000 acres to build their campus. Some people will be willing to sell; others will not. It will be up to Foxconn to acquire the land for their campus.
Vos: Nothing in the Foxconn legislation alters current law dealing with eminent domain. Local governments have the ability to work with property owners to come to an agreement.
Wanggaard: Nothing, although those property owners may end up on an island. Foxconn has been working with local landowners for several months. There is nothing in the bill that expands eminent domain, or anything similar. Whether or not individual property owners sell their property to Foxconn is their decision alone.
What portion of the jobs do you think will be filled by Racine County residents? What is being done to incentivize local hiring?
Mason: The number of jobs that will be held by people from Racine largely depends on how quickly we can prepare our workforce. We must take advantage of the more than $15 million set aside in the Foxconn bill for worker training.
Vos: In the Foxconn legislation, lawmakers provided $20 million to help train Wisconsin workers for these careers. Our workers will stand to benefit due to the proximity to the project alone and from the training that will be available, which our technical colleges and universities are going to provide.
Wanggaard: I suspect that a good portion of Foxconns employees will come from Racine County, and probably an equal number from Kenosha County. As with other large employers, I also believe that many Foxconn employees, regardless of where they live now, will relocate to the immediate area once they begin working at Foxconn.
The Racine area has a well-known job skills gap. How will that be overcome so residents here can get and keep jobs with Foxconn?
Mason: Foxconn coming to the area means a much-needed increase in funding for apprenticeships and technical degrees. Gateway Technical College and UW-Parkside will be critical partners in educating engineers and computer science professionals.
Vos: The legislation that was signed into law provides $20 million to help train Wisconsin workers for these careers. I am pleased that our technical colleges and universities are working to provide the necessary training for these types of positions.
Wanggaard: The skills gap is not just a Foxconn issue it is an issue for employers across the state. Were constantly looking to close that gap and matching skills to jobs. I know Foxconn is already working with Gateway Technical College, UW-Parkside and Community Action Programs to fill their needs.
What environmental protections/oversight will be in place, and how will that situation be monitored?
Mason: The environmental exemptions given to Foxconn in the incentives bill are just lousy. However, all the environmental protections around the operation of the plant under state and federal law remain in place for water, discharge, and air quality. We must be dogged in ensuring that the environment is not destroyed in the process of Foxconn coming here.
Vos: No environmental laws are changed. These are the same protections and oversight of our natural resources as the rest of the state. The Legislature also reinforced the DNR oversight while eliminating any duplicative processes.
Wanggaard: No environmental standards or enforcement mechanisms are changed for Foxconn. All current environmental protections remain in place. As with any project, the DNR, EPA, OSHA, and Army Corps of Engineers, along with others, will be monitoring the project for compliant with current law.
After Interstate 94 is widened, will that be enough to handle commuters to 13,000 new direct Foxconn jobs and 22,000 predicted indirect jobs?
Mason: If I-94 is widened, it will easily handle any incoming workforce. If we do the necessary work to skill up our people, the workforce wont need to commute; they will come from right here.
Vos: I am pleased to see that the needed improvements to the I-94 North/South were included in the project. Hopefully, the reconstruction of the Interstate will also help attract new businesses and allow current ones to grow.
Wanggaard: We know that the current roadway on I-94 is not able handle the amount of traffic currently. The expansion of I-94 is designed for the future, however. Once a location is announced, I suspect DOT will need to re-evaluate specific interchanges and roadways that surround the facility.
Are you concerned about continuing discord on the Mount Pleasant Village Board when Foxconn appears likely to locate in that village?
Mason: I believe the Mount Pleasant Board will step up to the plate for the people of this region.
Vos: It has been great working with the state and local officials on the Foxconn project. I know a massive opportunity like this one also may present challenges.
Wanggaard: The situation on the Mount Pleasant Village Board is concerning because of the impact it is having on the community, not just Foxconn. It is unfortunate that some members of the community cannot get past the last election. I look forward to a special election being held to fill the vacancy.
If Foxconn shut down its plant at some point, how could a 1,000-acre, 20 million-square-foot complex be redeveloped into another use? Would Foxconn be held responsible for selling or maintaining the structures?
Mason: I hope and expect Foxconn will be an employer in the area for many years. If they were to shut down their plant, reusable industrial and warehouse space near an interstate between Milwaukee and Chicago would be prime for redevelopment.
Vos: Our initial conversations with Foxconn officials focused on constructing a campus of buildings. The company, like any other in the state, must maintain the property in accordance to state and local laws. Its my hope that the contract with state addresses the concern posed in the question.
A major terror attack was averted after three Pakistani 'fidayeen' were shot dead in a gunfight in a forested area near the border town of Uri in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district, police said.
"All three Pakistani fidayeen terrorists were killed in Uri area of Baramulla district," said a police officer said.
Director General of Police S.P. Vaid told reporters here that the slain militants had planned a major suicide strike and their elimination has averted a major attack.
Security forces had launched an operation in Kaghi forest area of Uri tehsil on Sunday morning following specific information about a group of heavily-armed militants hiding there.
As the security forces tightened cordon around the area, the hiding militants opened fire at the security forces triggering a gunfight.
Police, however, have not confirmed whether the slain militants had recently infiltrated into the Valley from Pakistan-administered Kashmir or had been operating here for some time.
Pakistan has invoked acclaimed Indian novelist Arundhati Roy to attack External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's UN General Assembly (UNGA) speech where she denounced Islamabad as the "world's greatest exporter of havoc, death and inhumanity".
"Much of what is in the air in India now is pure terror, in Kashmir, in other places," Pakistan's Permanent Representative Maleeha Lodhi on Saturday evening quoted a statement made by Roy.
Delving into Indian politics, Lodhi also borrowed the standard lines of a section of Indian secularists who describe Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government as "fascist" and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as a "fanatic".
Usually a junior or mid-level diplomat delivers the rejoinders, but in a sign of how much it regards the impact of Swaraj's speech, Pakistan took the unusual step of sending its permanent representativeone of the the senior-most officials in its diplomatic corpsto exercise its right of reply.
In her address earlier in the day, Swaraj said Pakistan was only interested in fighting India and sponsoring state terrorism.
Lodhi repeated the secularist line in India that "a racist and fascist ideology is firmly embedded in Modi's government and that its leadership is drawn from the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) which is accused of assassinating Mahatma Gandhi".
She slammed Adityanath's election to head Uttar Pradesh, saying "the government has appointed a fanatic as the chief minister of India's largest state".
"It is a government, which has allowed the lynching of Muslims," Lodhi said.
She went on to quote from Roy's November 2015 statement: "These horrific murders are only a symptom. Life is hell for the living too. Whole populations of dalits, adivasis, Muslims, and Christians are being forced to live in terror, unsure of when and from where the assault would come."
Roy, who won the 1997 Booker Prize for her novel, The God of Small Things, recently published her second novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, which, unlike her first, is political.
Lodhi took particular objection to Swaraj's observation about Pakistan's founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had said, bequeathed a foreign policy based on peace and friendship.
Swaraj said it "remains open to question whether Jinnah Sahab actually advocated such principles."
Lodhi said Pakistan remained open to resuming a comprehensive dialogue with India but it should include Kashmir and end what she claimed was a "campaign of subversion and state-sponsored terrorism".
(IANS)
US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers, escorted by fighter jets, flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea on Saturday, in a show of force the Pentagon said demonstrated the range of military options available to President Donald Trump.
The flight, which was disclosed shortly before North Koreas foreign minister was due to address the United Nations, was the farthest north of the demilitarised zone separating North and South Korea that any US fighter jet or bomber has flown in the 21st century, the Pentagon said.
This mission is a demonstration of US resolve and a clear message that the President has many military options to defeat any threat, said Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White, calling North Koreas weapons program a grave threat.
We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the US homeland and our allies.
North Korea has launched dozens of missiles this year, several flying over Japan, as it accelerates its programme aimed at enabling it to target the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile.
The flight follows a week of heightened rhetoric from Washington and Pyongyang, with Trump and Kim Jong Un trading insults. Trump called the North Korean leader a madman on Friday, a day after Kim dubbed him a mentally deranged US dotard.
Pyongyang conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test on September 3 and has launched dozens of missiles this year as it accelerates a program aimed at enabling it to target the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile. The North has threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific.
The Pentagon said the B-1B Lancer bombers came from Guam and the US Air Force F-15C Eagle fighter escorts came from Okinawa, Japan. It said the operation showed the seriousness with which it took North Koreas reckless behavior.
The patrols came after officials and experts said a small earthquake near North Koreas nuclear test site on Saturday was probably not man-made, easing fears Pyongyang had exploded another nuclear bomb just weeks after its last one.
North Koreas Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho warned on Thursday that North Korea could consider a hydrogen bomb test of an unprecedented scale over the Pacific.
Ri did not respond on Saturday when asked by reporters whether North Korea had conducted a new nuclear test.
Chinas Earthquake Administration said the quake was not a nuclear explosion and had the characteristics of a natural tremor.
The CTBTO, or Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty Organisation, which monitors nuclear tests, and officials of the South Korean meteorological agency also said they believed it was a natural quake.
A US intelligence official and US-based non-governmental experts said their initial assessment was that the quake was either natural or connected to North Koreas latest and largest nuclear test on September 3, and not caused by a new nuclear test.
An official of South Koreas Meteorological Agency said acoustic waves should be detected in the event of a man-made earthquake.
In this case we saw none. So as of now, we are categorising this as a natural earthquake.
The earthquake, which South Koreas Meteorological Agency put at magnitude 3.0, was detected 49km from Kilju in North Hamgyong Province, where North Koreas known Punggye-ri nuclear site is located, the official said.
All of North Koreas six nuclear tests registered as earthquakes of magnitude 4.3 or above. The last test registered as a 6.3 magnitude quake.
A secondary tremor detected after that test could have been caused by the collapse of a tunnel at the mountainous site, experts said at the time. Satellite photos after the September 3 quake showed numerous landslides apparently caused by the massive blast, which North Korea said was an advanced hydrogen bomb.
Tensions high
The US Geological Survey said it could not conclusively confirm whether the quake, which it measured at magnitude 3.5, was man-made or natural.
Tensions have continued to rise around the Korean Peninsula since Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test, prompting a new round of UN sanctions.
Trump said the United States would totally destroy North Korea if it threatened the United States or its allies.
On Thursday Trump announced new US sanctions that he said allow targeting of companies and institutions that finance and facilitate trade with North Korea.
Earlier on Saturday, China said it will limit exports of refined petroleum products from Oct. 1 and ban exports of condensates and liquefied natural gas immediately to comply with the latest UN sanctions. It will also ban imports of textiles from North Korea.
North Koreas nuclear tests to date have all been underground, and experts say an atmospheric test, which would be the first since one by China in 1980, would be proof of the success of its weapons programme.
When Kiren Rijiju went vocal about the need to deport the Rohingya refugees, little did he realise that there might be trouble, literally in his backyard, just at that moment. First came the advisory of the Union home ministry's foreigners division, handled by the minister of state, asking state governments to identify Rohingyas and deport them. The home ministry termed them a national security threat.
The minister was echoing the sentiment of his government as well as the BJP, which is in power in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Sikkim. These states claim to have suffered a demographic change with the influx of Bangladeshi migrants and do not want the Rohingyas settling down there.
When human rights groups decried the move to deport the Rohingyas, Rijiju talked tough: Branding India as villain on the Rohingya issue is a calibrated design to tarnish India's image. It undermines national security.
In the next few days, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was seen trying to do a balancing act. She called up Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, offering support to Dhaka's humanitarian challenges. But the home ministry in its affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on September 18 made it clear that the Rohingyas had links to terror groups like Islamic State and that they were a strain on national resources.
Little did the ministry realise that while it was racing to pack off the Rohingyas, it would soon be pushed to consider citizenship to another set of refugees. The Supreme Court asked the Centre to grant citizenship to the Chakma-Hajong refugees, who have been staying mostly in Arunachal Pradesh since 1964. According to the 2011 census, there are 47,471 Chakmas in Arunachal Pradesh. Rijiju, who is from Arunachal Pradesh, found himself caught in a tricky situation because the file landed on his desk.
In 2015, when the Supreme Court had first ordered citizenship to the Chakma-Hajongs, who fled from Chittagong in erstwhile East Pakistan in 1964-65, several groups in Arunachal Pradesh vociferously opposed it saying it would change the state's demography. On September 18, Chief Minister Pema Khandu shot off a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking protection of tribal rights and securing the sanctity of the inner line permit in Arun-achal Pradesh. Rijiju said a middle ground would be worked out, but did not rule out full citizenship.
The home ministry is confident that its policy of dealing with illegal immigrants on a case-to-case basis has stood the test of time. Officials said while the Chakma refugees might be given citizenship, they would not be granted the right to purchase land. They may be allowed to work and travel after obtaining inner line permits. Sources indicated that the move to allow them to stay on as citizens could be in line with the government's stance of granting citizenship to those who have taken shelter in India after facing religious persecution. The Chakmas are Buddhists and the Hajongs are Hindus.
The Supreme Court has ordered to grant them citizenship status and the MHA will respond in the court. But as per the constitutional provisions and various existing regulations, we cannot treat them at par with the indigenous people of Arunachal Pradesh, said Rijiju. He said the Chakma-Hajong issue was different from the Rohingya crisis. These cannot be compared. More deft balancing will be needed from Rijiju in the coming weeks as the government comes under pressure on the Rohingya issue.
KENOSHA WGTD (91.1 FM) is owned and operated as a public service of Gateway Technical College and is an affiliate of Wisconsin Public Radio. For an updated schedule, visit its website at www.wgtd.org.
The Morning Show airs every weekday between 8:10 and 9 a.m. Following is a schedule of show topics for the coming week:
Monday Lewis Sorley, author of A Better War. Sorley is a well-respected military historian and veteran who worked in the Pentagon and taught at West Point. His book is a comprehensive look at U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
Tuesday Barbara Brattin, director of the Kenosha Public Library, and Angie Aker, vice president of the Kenosha Public Library Foundation. The KPL Foundation is hosting its first gala fundraising event on Oct. 7. The official honorees of the gala are Betsy Brown and her late husband, Howard Brown.
Wednesday Martha Brockenbrough, author of Alexander Hamilton: Revolutionary.
Thursday Dr. Eduardo Garcia-Novelli, conductor of the Carthage College Choir, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary this fall.
Friday Gateway Technical College president Bryan Albrecht.
Saturday Saturday programming includes Financial Overview at 9 a.m., Breakfast Bytes at 9:45 a.m., Education Matters at 10:30 a.m. and Community Matters at 11:15 a.m.
(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)
The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews donates 28,000 gift baskets, 4,000 store vouchers, for Rosh Hashanah.
Ahead of Rosh Hashanah, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) provided 28,000 gift baskets and 4,000 store vouchers to Jewish families in Russia and Ukraine who suffered financially during years of military conflict between the two countries and resulting economic sanctions.
The IFCJ teamed up with the Federation of Jewish Communities in the CIS (FJCCIS) to distribute the food baskets and store vouchers for clothing, altogether worth more than $1.6 million.
About half of the food baskets were distributed to children and young people, while the other half went to adults and the elderly. About 10,000 baskets were donated in the Moscow area, and another 5,000 to Jewish refugees from the war-torn region of eastern Ukraine, altogether worth more than $1.2 million.
Another 4,000 store vouchers were distributed to families in distress in Jewish communities throughout the former Soviet Union. Each voucher can be used for the purchase of $100 in clothing, altogether worth more than $400,000.
Last week in Moscow, IFCJs Founder and President, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, joined Russias Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar and a group of volunteers to pack thousands of the food baskets to send to the former Soviet Union.
This Rosh Hashanah, when we all sit around a table laden with delicacies, its vital that we recall our brothers and sisters in distress both in Israel and in Jewish communities around the world. At the Fellowship, weve been working for years to enable Jews in every place in the world to celebrate the holidays with joy and dignity, Eckstein said.
Rabbi Lazar added: One of the paramount messages in Judaism is unity not just for national purposes, but in order to complete the spiritual whole of the Jewish nation. This is especially true when discussing Rosh Hashanah, one of the central holidays in the Jewish calendar. The unity of our people is incomplete if we do not concern ourselves with our weaker elements. This support, in a way, does more for us than for others, because it allows us to reach this Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgment, as one unified nation.
Aside from the help provided to Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union, the IFCJ is also distributing Rosh Hashanah aid to needy families throughout Israel, including food and clothing vouchers to 39,000 families, children in orphanages and welfare institutions, soldiers and women in abuse shelters. That aid amounted to $2.28 million, or 8 million Israeli Shekels.
As it does each year, the IFCJ led a major effort to help the needy for Rosh Hashanah in Israel. That aid included: 8,500 vouchers to buy $85, or 300 Israeli Shekels, worth of food in the Shufersal supermarket chain to single-parent families living in public housing; 5,000 vouchers to buy food for families participating in the National Program for Nutrition Protection; 5,000 baskets and vouchers to buy food for families and the elderly living in poverty through Home and Hand in Hand Charity Organization; 8,300 vouchers worth $71, or 250 Israeli Shekels, to buy clothing in the FOX chain of clothing stores for abused women and children in welfare settings; and 12,000 grants for the purchase of up to $142, or 500 Israeli Shekels, to Lone Soldiers those serving in the Israel Defense Forces without family in Israel and to soldiers who receive state assistance to families.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit FJCCIS)
In response to the Iranian firing of a ballistic missile on Shabbos, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman responded by explaining Iran is testing Israels response.
Lieberman was quoted telling Yisrael Hayom that this is part of Irans ongoing effort to become a world power.
Iran on Shabbos tested a mid-range ballistic missile capable of carrying four warheads and traveling 1,250 miles, placing both Israel and US military bases in Saudi Arabia in range.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
It was not too long before Rosh Hashanah that officials in the Trump administration signaled they may not comply with the agreement signed by the Obama administration and Tehran. These words were met by an Iranian response, warning the new administration doing so would result in Washingtons loss of credibility in the international community.
If we move ahead just a bit, to Shabbos, 3 Tishrei 5778, we now face a new reality, a brazen Iranian move, the firing of a ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple warheads, a missile that was just revealed to the international community on Friday, during a military parade in Tehran.
The Khorramshahr missile has a range of 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) and can carry multiple warheads, according to Press TV.
The Khorramshahr missile has become smaller in size and more tactical and it will be operational in the near future, the broadcaster said. The new missile places Israel within range, as well as American bases in Saudi Arabia.
Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel.They are also working with North Korea.Not much of an agreement we have! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
President Hassan Rouhani spoke during the parade, telling the world Tehran is strengthening its defense capabilities, adding Whether you like it or not we are going to help Syria, Yemen and Palestine, and we will strengthen our missiles.
The firing is the second launch of a ballistic missile by Iran in the last month and US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power announced the video footage of the launch released by Iran is being verified. The ambassador added if the launch is confirmed, the matter will be taken to the UN Security Council.
In his address to the UN General Assembly in NYC on Tuesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, We must speak the truth about Iran, explaining Iran continues to vow to destroy my country every day.
The prime minister added, President Trump rightly called the nuclear deal with Iran, he called it an embarrassment. Well, I couldnt agree with him more. And heres why: Iran vows to destroy my country every day, including by its chief of staff the other day. Iran is conducting a campaign of conquest across the Middle East and Iran is developing ballistic missiles to threaten the entire world.
Two years ago, I stood here and explained why the Iranian nuclear deal not only doesnt block Irans path to the bomb, Irans nuclear program has whats called a sunset clause. Let me explain what that term means: It means that in a few years, those restrictions will be automatically removed not by a change in Irans behavior, not by a lessening of its terror or its aggression. Theyll just be removed by a mere change in the calendar. And I warned that when that sunset comes, a dark shadow will be cast over the entire Middle East and the world, because Iran will then be free to enrich uranium on an industrial scale, placing it on the threshold of a massive arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Thats why I said two years ago that the greater danger is not that Iran will rush to a single bomb by breaking the deal, but that Iran will be able to build many bombs by keeping the deal.
Now, in the last few months, weve all seen how dangerous even a few nuclear weapons can be in the hands of a small rogue regime.
Now imagine the danger of hundreds of nuclear weapons in the hands of a vast Iranian Islamist empire, with the missiles to deliver them anywhere on earth.
I know there are those who still defend the dangerous deal with Iran, arguing that it will block Irans path to the bomb.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thats exactly what they said about the nuclear deal with North Korea, and we all know how that turned out. Unfortunately, if nothing changes, this deal will turn out exactly the same way.
Thats why Israels policy regarding the nuclear deal with Iran is very simple: Change it or cancel it, fix it or nix it. Nixing the deal means restoring massive pressure on Iran, including crippling sanctions, until Iran fully dismantles its nuclear weapons capability. Fixing the deal requires many things, among them inspecting military and any other site that is suspect, and penalizing Iran for every violation. But above all, fixing the deal means getting rid of the sunset clause.
And beyond fixing this bad deal, we must also stop Irans development of ballistic missiles and roll back its growing aggression in the region. I remember we had these debates. As you know, I took a fairly active role in them. And many supporters of the nuclear deal naively believed that it would moderate Iran. It would make it a responsible member, so they said, of the international community.
Well as you know, I strongly disagreed. I warned that when the sanctions on Iran would be removed, Iran would behave like a hungry tiger unleashed, not joining the community of nations, but devouring nations, one after the other. And thats precisely what Iran is doing today.
From the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean, from Tehran to Tartus, an Iranian curtain is descending across the Middle East. Iran spreads this curtain of tyranny and terror over Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere, and it pledges to extinguish the light of Israel.
Today I have a simple message for Ayatollah Khamenei, the dictator of Iran: The light of Israel will never be extinguished
But I also have a message today for the people of Iran: You are not our enemy; you are our friends. Shomaah doosteh mah hasteed [You are our friends]. One day, my Iranian friends, you will be free from the evil regime that terrorizes you, hangs gays, jails journalists, tortures political prisoners, and shoots innocent women like Neda Sultan, leaving her choking on her own blood on the streets of Tehran. I have not forgotten Neda. I am sure you havent too.
And when that day of liberation finally comes, the friendship between our two ancient peoples will surely flourish once again.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Israel knows that in confronting the Iranian regime, we are not alone. We stand shoulder to shoulder with those in the Arab world who share our hopes for a brighter future. Weve made peace with Jordan and Egypt, whose courageous President Abdel Fattah a-Sisi I met here last night. I appreciate President a-Sisis support for peace, and I hope to work closely with him and other leaders in the region to advance peace
PUBLISHED ON MOTZEI SHABBOS IN ERETZ YISRAEL.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The disgraced bankers who brought Lloyds to the brink of collapse through its catastrophic takeover of HBOS are being hauled before the High Court to explain themselves.
Bosses including former chief executive Eric Daniels and chairman Sir Victor Blank will be forced to detail how they came to buy HBOS for 12billion as the financial crisis raged in 2008.
The weight of bad debts at HBOS almost sank Lloyds forcing British taxpayers to step in with a 20.5billion bailout.
Furious investors whose shares tumbled in value as a result of the disastrous deal are now suing the lender for up to 700million over claims they were misled.
Ex-chief exec Eric Daniels,66, left, and ex-Chairman Victor Blank, 74, right, will be forced to detail how they came to buy HBOS for 12billion as the financial crisis raged in 2008
Other witnesses will include ex finance- chief Helen Weir, 55, left, and ex director Truett Tate, 67, right
Lawyers for the shareholders will call the banks former bosses as witnesses and their testimony could shed fresh light on how Lloyds came to make its offer, as well as the political manoeuvring behind the scenes.
In addition to Blank and Daniels who has begun his own court action against his former employer over 500,000 in unpaid bonuses other witnesses will include former finance director and retail bank boss Helen Weir, who now oversees the finances of Marks & Spencer.
Ex-investment bank chief Truett Tate and one-time insurance executive Archie Kane, who now governs Bank of Ireland, are also expected to give evidence, as is former top regulator Sir Hector Sants, who was in charge of the Financial Services Authority at the time of the deal.
As markets plunged and the financial system came within hours of total collapse following the failure of Lehman Brothers in 2008, speculators turned on HBOS and caused wild swings in its share price.
Lloyds, which had long considered a tie-up with the bank, was seen as a white knight able to rescue it. The Labour government even changed competition law so the deal could sail through.
Gordon Brown, who was prime minister at the time, is said to have told Blank at a cocktail party in Spencer House, an 18th century mansion in central London, that he would help.
Lloyds had been seen as a reliable dividend-producing machine, run far more sensibly than its free-wheeling, risk-taking rivals.
Many ordinary savers invested in the stock as a result.
But in October 2008, bosses were forced to beg the Government for support triggering years of losses and a prolonged slump in the share price.
This led to the formation of Lloyds Bank Shareholder Action, a group of 5,700 retail investors and 300 institutions, which brings the civil case next month.
A Lloyds Banking Group spokesman said: The groups position remains that we do not believe there to be any merit to these claims and we will robustly contest this legal action.
The bank is likely to argue that it gave detailed disclosures to investors about HBOSs finances before they voted on whether the takeover could go ahead.
Insiders say a similar case in the US courts was dismissed.
In his modest offices in a quiet street in Londons Victoria, Tony Durrant speaks in the measured tones of a former banker.
This summer, though, he could have whooped like a Texas oil baron in cowboy boots and a Stetson hat because boy, did he strike oil up to two billion barrels of the black stuff.
It was one of the biggest finds in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico for decades. And the strike couldnt have come at a better time for Premier Oil.
Tycoon: Tony Durrant speaks in the measured tones of a former banker despite striking gold
The company had only just finished talks with its lenders, a group of 40 banks, after more than a year of wrangling over its $2.8 billion (2 billion) debt. So the boss grins from ear to ear as he remembers that day in July.
There was a buzz of excitement, everyone was chattering furiously and thats always a good sign. You know from the moment you hit the top of the reservoir whether youve struck oil or water because the rock is different.
Then the longer the drilling continues and the deeper it gets, the better it is. In our case wed continued till we got to the equivalent height of The Shard. All of that height was the right stuff, oil-bearing rock, he says.
The discovery meant Durrant could breathe a little easier.
Premier had been caught out by the drop in the price of oil and had racked up its huge debts developing the $1.6 billion Catcher field in the North Sea. That meant white knuckles and wakeful nights for Durrant.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the Falklands... their own sovereign wealth fund
We lost $1 billion cashflow as a result of the oil price being lower than expected. Consequently, we had a billion dollars more debt than anticipated. Did I lose sleep? Sometimes you dont even get to sleep.
I know very personally that June 2014 was the peak of the oil price because thats when I took over at Premier. It started to fall very soon after. But I knew we had a good business, we were just caught out by the commodity cycle, he says.
The Zama discovery off the Tabasco coast, in a consortium formed with a Mexican and a US firm at a cost to Premier of just $16 million, came at an opportune moment, sending Premiers shares one third higher.
We certainly enjoyed telling our banks about it, he says. Well see first oil in 2022 or 2023, he says.
Premier had been caught out by the drop in the price of oil and racked up huge debts developing $1.6 billion Catcher field in North Sea
Under its new deal with its banks, Premier has to use the cashflow from the 80,000 barrels of oil a day it pumps to repay its debts for the next couple of years.
But after that it can continue with its exploration and production schedule including in Mexico, the North Sea and the Falkland Islands.
The banks understand that if we dont keep moving forward we will disappear, says Durrant.
He is keen to dispel the public perception that Premiers other key location, the North Sea, is in decline. This is simply at odds with reality, says Durrant. As much as 40 per cent of reserves in the North Sea have not been produced.
The major oil companies have decided the UK North Sea is not their playground but that leaves opportunities for companies our size.
We lost over $1bn cashflow. Did I lose sleep? Sometimes you dont even get to sleep...
Over the last 12 months you have a generation of new players, some quoted companies like us, but at least three or four private equity firms investing in existing management teams doing reasonable sized acquisitions.
So there are at least half a dozen new firms that are committed to investing in the North Sea now.
Premier discovered the Catcher oil field in 2010 and bought German energy giant E.Ons North Sea assets for $120 million in 2016. The firm currently produces 45,000 barrels a day in the North Sea and this is set to rise to more than 50,000 when the Catcher field comes on stream later this year.
The industry may have had to pare back operations in the face of a falling oil price, but costs have fallen sharply at the same time. That means its now viable to recover oil and gas from the North Sea. We needed $35 a barrel to cover costs in 2012, and now its only $20, he says.
The oil price has fallen from $116 a barrel to about $55 after Saudi Arabia opened the taps three years ago. It aimed to protect its share of the worlds oil market by forcing rival rapidly growing US shale oil producers out of business.
American shale oil firms need higher oil prices to make their operations economical.
Durrant could have whooped like a Texas oil baron in cowboy boots and a Stetson hat because boy, did he strike oil up to two billion barrels of the black stuff
Now Saudi Arabia and other big oil-producing countries believe their plan has worked. They are scaling back production to push oil prices up again.
Production information on American shale oil, which accounts for five million barrels out of a worldwide production of 95 million, is readily available and any slowdown is evident, says Durrant.
However, information on oil production across the rest of the world is less clear cut.
But I strongly believe the rebalancing of supply and demand is well under way, says Durrant. So I think petrol is going to get more expensive for motorists but I think the retailers do a pretty good job of jumping on any hint that the oil price is recovering anyway.
Premiers other projects include its Sea Lion field, jointly being developed with AIM-listed exploration company Rockhopper, 150 kilometres north of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
Durrant expects to make a final investment decision on the $1.5 billion scheme next year. Britain defeated Argentina in its war over possession of the islands in 1982. Argentina continues to try to make life awkward.
As a project we have never needed Argentina, we dont physically touch Argentina and we dont use Argentinian companies. We have discovered 500 million barrels in the North Falkland basin but will develop 220 million barrels in the first phase.
These are fields which will produce for 25 years with first oil probably in 2022, he says. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the Falklands to establish 100 years worth of revenue potential for everything they want to do in future its a kind of sovereign wealth fund for the islands.
He gives short shrift to the likes of Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, who have warned that oil companies reliance on fossil fuels risks leaving them with stranded assets they cannot exploit as the world turns towards greener energy.
Its easy to talk about making all cars electric but no one talks about how power will be generated to supply electrification. Renewable energy does not plug the hole in future energy supplies. I dont think the oil and gas industry has a ticking clock over it at all, he says.
After his summer of good fortune, Durrant, who took home 1.4 million last year, can afford to take a robust view of the world. After all, he has followed the maxim of the famous oil baron J Paul Getty: Rise early, work late strike oil.
Nearly 100 years ago, as immigrants were pouring into this country for new life and opportunity, Racine Rotarians recognized the importance of building friendship and understanding across cultures with their neighbors.
In the 1920s, the relatively new club organized an International Night, when Rotarians would create time for their foreign-born members to talk about their homeland, their customs and how they were blending these into life in Racine.
This special evening became such a tradition that by 1931 Rotarian George T. Coleman chaired an International Council, through which the Racine Rotary invited two dozen or so ethnic fraternal organizations to join the effort in discovering each other. Soon, the Danish Brotherhood, Sons of Norway, the Jewish Community, Lithuanian National League, Hungarian Young Mens Society, the Greek-American Progressive Society, The Slovak Sokol, Sons of Italy, Croation Society and the Womens Club were gathering together to discuss international questions and interracial relations and to develop friendship and understanding.
Eventually, the gatherings grew into some of the ethnic festivals and dinners that still exist today in Racine. By 1938, the International Council became its own organization.
Reaching out
to youth
Racine Rotary continued to foster international understanding in other ways, particularly among young people. In the early 1960s, the Racine club created the International Student Weekend and invited foreign students attending universities and colleges in Southeastern Wisconsin to spend a weekend with a Rotary host family during the January winter break. The students would get a tour of the city and then gather with Rotarians at Wingspread for a dinner, at which they would share something about themselves and their homeland.
In the 1970s, Racine Rotarians joined with other Southeastern Wisconsin Rotary Clubs to form the week-long World Affairs Seminar, which takes place every summer on the Carroll University campus in Waukesha. High school students from around the globe gather there to learn about and discuss a pivotal world issue and to develop further understanding. The 2018 World Affairs Seminar will focus on innovation. For more details, high school students can visit the website at: http://worldaffairsseminar.org/was-2018/.
Dozens of Racine high school students have expanded their knowledge of the world through the Rotary Youth Exchange program. The Racine Founders Rotary Club hosts students for a year from another country and assists in sending local students abroad. The most recent in-bound exchange student was Olcha, from Poland. She attended Horlick High School during the last academic year and returned home in August. The experience, she said was life-changing.
As issues of international peace and understanding continue to emerge in these times, Racine Founders Rotary Club remains committed to the very ideas that club members had 100 years ago: The only people you dont like are those you do not know.
Mining giant BHP Billiton has cut its chairmans annual pay and clamped down on perks that allowed the spouses of non- executive board members to go on business trips.
The company has reduced incoming chairman Ken MacKenzies salary by 8 per cent from $960,000 (710,000) to $880,000 (651,000).
MacKenzie, who joined the board as a non-executive director a year ago, was promoted to chairman at the beginning of the month.
DEAL: BHP Billitons Ken MacKenzie
The company said the cut, effective from the beginning of last July, was an outcome supported by the new chairman.
It said the decisions had followed an annual review into pay that included benchmarking against peer companies.
Sarah Wilson, at shareholder advisers Manifest, said the pay cut was an unusual move for a FTSE 100 company but one that she saw as positive.
Getting rid of the travel allowance is also very much something that shareholders will welcome, she said.
This is really how you would want companies to respond to feedback and it shows that it is possible for companies to change without coming to blows with investors.
The company should be applauded for understanding the way the market is moving.
Earlier this month an investigation by The Mail on Sunday revealed that almost a third of FTSE 100 firms have been subjected to a pay revolt vote of more than 20 per cent in the past four years.
The Government has said that in future such firms will be placed on a blacklist in an effort to embarrass them into reducing excessive pay and perks.
It is the second time BHP has reduced the chairmans pay within three years. It slashed the salary of the former incumbent, Jac Nasser, by 13 per cent from its previous level of $1.1 million (810,000) in July 2015.
A third of FTSE 100 firms have been subjected to a pay revolt vote of more than 20% in the past four years
Shareholders will be invited to vote on the modifications to pay and perks at the annual meeting next month. Chief executive Andrew Mackenzie retains his right to take his spouse away on business worldwide with the company footing the bill.
He was paid 4.1 million after the company swung back into profit in its last financial year. That compared with 1.7 million last year when he did not take a bonus following the death of 19 people in an accident in Brazil.
This year his health and safety bonus was cut by 180,000 after the death of an employee in Chile.
Aggrieved shareholders in collapsed banks should take legal action against the auditors, Lord Lawson said this weekend.
I think it is deplorable that there has not been any litigation, the former Chancellor told Financial Mail. He singled out the auditors as a target alongside some of the executives who were clearly culpable.
There was anger last week when the Financial Reporting Council, which regulates auditors, said it would not bring disciplinary action against KPMG over its 2008 audit of HBOS shortly before it was rescued.
Lord Lawson with daughter Nigella Lawson
Lawson said that in the past audit firms had been successfully pursued over bank failures. When I was Chancellor there was the collapse of Johnson Matthey Bankers in 1984.
The Bank of England, with my approval, sued the auditors, Arthur Young, and sued them successfully.
The Bank became the owner of Johnson Matthey Bankers, which had been set up by the chemicals giant after it collapsed under the weight of hundreds of millions of pounds in bad loans.
It sued Arthur Young which became part of Ernst & Young, now known as EY. The auditor paid a substantial sum in an out-of-court settlement.
Lawson said he did not believe it is any harder to sue auditors today but that regulators were reluctant to do so. They find it easier to go to the taxpayer to get a bailout rather than entering into litigation.
He was part of a House of Lords review into auditing in 2011 which was highly critical of their role during the financial crisis.
At the time he told auditors they were extra-ordinarily self-satisfied to claim there had been no failure in the lead-up to the crisis. He later said a rating system for bank audits could help stem moral decline in the financial system.
The FRC said last week that on HBOS there was not a realistic prospect that a Tribunal would make an adverse finding against KPMG in respect of the matters within the scope of the investigation.
RACINE Rarely does a section on rumors about a city project appear on a Racine meeting agenda.
But the Ad-Hoc Mayors Advisory Group isnt your average city committee.
The group, which includes leaders from many of Racines most prominent businesses, met for the second time Thursday at the Johnson Bank Building, 555 Main St., to discuss the status of the event center (arena) project. The groups assembly was one of 10 goals laid out by the City Council that could eventually lead to approval of the project.
Thursdays meeting was a wide-ranging conversation, mostly led by interim Mayor Dennis Wiser, and was designed to clarify concerns held by the business leaders about the project. Wiser directly addressed big questions surrounding the project, including the possibility that his successor, either state Rep. Cory Mason or Alderman Sandy Weidner, wont support the plan.
Wiser was asked if he believes the council would override a veto from the Mayors Office on the plan.
We have the votes right now to do it, and I dont anticipate those voters changing, he said. It takes 10 votes to have it solid and right now we have 10 solid votes.
Julys vote to continue work on the project had nine votes in favor, so Wisers number presumes him as the 10th once he returns to his role as 10th District alderman after the Oct. 17 special mayoral election.
Foxconn effect
Wiser also discussed the effect of Foxconns potential arrival on the event center project. While the mayor reiterated his contention that Foxconn would be a major boost for the event centers relevance, he also discussed a potential downside of Foxconns arrival that could speed up the citys project timeline.
Foxconn Technology Group plans to build a massive facility to produce liquid crystal display screens for Apple products, and western Mount Pleasant has been rumored as the likely site for the plant. The state has approved nearly $3 billion in incentives to help the company locate in southeast Wisconsin.
Foxconn is talking about hiring 10,000 construction workers, Wiser said. Were nervous that if we dont get at this real quickly, well find ourselves looking at increased construction prices. We may be paying through the nose for concrete and such. So we would like to get this going as soon as possible.
He also addressed the rumor that Foxconn would build a massive apartment complex for its employees and the positive effect that would have on the area.
We could have a rapidly expanding market, depending on what happens with the employees at Foxconn, Wiser said.
Misinformation
Wiser also talked about misinformation he has seen spread by mayoral candidates regarding the price of the event center project and the use of Festival and Memorial halls. Venuworks, the company that runs those venues, had its contract extended through June 2019 this week and has agreed to take on additional responsibility with the proposed event center.
Joe Cronin, a financial adviser at Robert W. Baird who was representing Downtown Racine Corp. at the meeting, was concerned that the candidates in last Tuesdays mayoral primary werent fully informed on the proposal.
None of the six candidates seemed to know anything about the 10 steps necessary to bring this to fruition, Cronin said. How do we get that information out to the public?
Wiser said the misinformation is something hes had extensive conversations with his staff about.
Im debating whether I should be the one to put a little fact-finder letter as necessary in the newspaper, he said. I have already stated I am not going to run for the job (of mayor), so if people want to yell at me for putting that stuff out, I have no problem with that.
He also asked the group to provide him with suggestions if they have ideas about getting the information out to the public.
Immediately after Wisers comment about the letter, multiple group members noted that transparency is the most important part of getting the information out to the public.
Its got to get out there, Cronin said. It has to.
Chancellor Angela Merkel clinched a fourth term in Germany\s election Sunday, but her victory was clouded by the entry into parliament of the hard right AfD, the best showing for a nationalist force since World War II.
Merkel, who after 12 years in power held a double-digit lead for most of the campaign, scored around 33 percent of the vote with her conservative Christian Union (CDU/CSU) bloc, according to exit polls.
Its nearest rivals, the Social Democrats and their candidate Martin Schulz, came in a distant second, with a post-war record low 20-21 percent.
But in a bombshell for the German establishment, the anti-Islam, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) captured around 13 percent, catapulting it to become the country\s third biggest political force.
Commentators called the AfD\s strong performance a "watershed moment" in the history of the German republic. The top-selling Bild daily called it a "political earthquake".
Supporters gathered at the AfD party headquarters in Berlin cheered as public television reported the outcome, many joining in a chorus of the German national anthem.
The four-year-old nationalist party with links to the far-right French National Front and Britain\s UKIP has been shunned by Germany\s mainstream but was able to build on particularly strong support in ex-communist eastern Germany.
It is now headed for the opposition benches of the Bundestag lower house, dramatically boosting its visibility and state financing.
Alarmed by the prospect of what Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel branded "real Nazis" entering parliament, the candidates had used their final days of campaigning to implore voters to reject the populists.
Merkel basked in her win but admitted that she had fallen far short of the 40-percent goal her party set.
"There\s a big new challenge for us, and that is the entry of the AfD in the Bundestag," said Merkel, adding: "We want to win back AfD voters."
Germans voted in a splintered parliament, reflecting an electorate torn between a relatively high degree of satisfaction with Merkel and a desire for change after more than a decade of her leadership.
Another three parties cleared the five-percent hurdle to be represented in parliament: the liberal Free Democrats at around 10 percent and the anti-capitalist Left and ecologist Greens, both at about nine percent.
As Merkel failed to secure a ruling majority on her own and with the dejected SPD ruling out another right-left "grand coalition" with her, the process of coalition building was shaping up to be a thorny, months-long process.
Merkel, 63, often called the most powerful woman on the global stage, ran on her record as a steady pair of hands in a turbulent world, warning voters not to indulge in "experiments".
Pundits said Merkel\s reassuring message of stability and prosperity resonated in greying Germany, where more than half of the 61 million voters are aged 52 or older.
Her popularity had largely recovered from the influx since 2015 of more than one million mostly Muslim migrants and refugees, half of them from war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the AfD was able to capitalise on a wellspring of anger over the asylum issue during what was criticised as a largely lacklustre campaign bereft of real clashes among the main contenders.
The party has made breaking taboos its trademark.
Top AfD candidate Alexander Gauland has called for Germans to shed their guilt over two world wars and the Holocaust and to take pride in their veterans.
He has also suggested that Germany\s integration commissioner Aydan Ozoguz, who has Turkish roots, should be "disposed of in Anatolia".
Law student Sabine Maier dismissed the AfD as "too extreme" as she voted in Berlin.
But she also criticised the media for lavishly covering the most outrageous comments by the upstart party.
"They aren\t all fascists," she said.
The SPD said its catastrophic result would lead it to seek a stint in opposition to rekindle its fighting spirit.
"This is a difficult and bitter day for German social democracy," a grim-faced Schulz, a former European Parliament chief, told reporters, adding that he hoped to remain party leader.
This would leave Merkel in need of new coalition partners.
If the SPD sticks to its refusal to play ball, mathematically the most likely scenario would be a link-up with the pro-business Free Democrats, who staged a comeback after crashing out of parliament four years ago, and the left-leaning Greens.
That so-called "Jamaica" coalition, based on the party colours and the Caribbean nation\s flag, would be a risky proposition, given the differences between the parties on issues ranging from climate policy to migration issues.
Schulz, 61, struggled to gain traction with his calls for a more socially just Germany at a time when the economy is humming and employment is at a record low.
The SPD also found it hard to shine after four years as the junior partner in Merkel\s grand coalition, marked by broad agreement on major issues, from foreign policy to migration.
SOURCE: AFP
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North Greenbush
These are busy times for North Greenbush.
Anyone who has driven Route 4 between the Troy and East Greenbush lines has encountered plenty of construction along what is developing into a major north-south corridor in the southern half of Rensselaer County.
Among the projects:
A new mixed-use development is nearing completion across from Hudson Valley Community College;
The Capital Region's first authorized Tesla collision repair shop opens this week on Route 4 with the completion of the newest Cole's Collision Center;
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is expanding the parking lot at the former MapInfo Corp. building in the Rensselaer Technology Park to accommodate another 442 spaces. Town Supervisor Lou Desso said he understands the biopharmaceutical company is bringing 700 high-paying jobs to the town;
The long-stalled Van Rensselaer Square shopping center is moving ahead with the construction of the county's first ShopRite supermarket, due to open before the end of the year.
The two-lane road is quickly turning into the town's main street, with HVCC, the tech park, shopping and now housing drawing students, employees, residents and visitors.
Community Care Physicians developed a new medical building and urgent care center at the entrance to the tech park, while Pat's Barn at the tech park has become a venue for meetings, weddings, galas and other social events.
"Development initially follows access," observed Mark A. Castiglione, executive director of the Capital District Regional Planning Commission, who compared it to growth in Albany and Saratoga counties following the opening of the Northway.
Route 4 gives North Greenbush and East Greenbush easy access to Interstate 90 and from there to much of the rest of the Capital Region.
Traffic hasn't grown to quite the extent that it has on Wolf Road, which sees 30,000 or more cars each day.
The busiest section of Route 4 in the town handles about 22,000 vehicles daily, with the least-busy stretch, between Winter Street Extension and Glenmore Road, handling about 12,500 vehicles, according to data from the state Department of Transportation.
Those figures are expected to grow as employers and retailers expand through the corridor.
Desso attributes the corridor's attractiveness at least in part to architectural design guidelines that encourage such features as peaked roofs, specific colors, and materials such as stone.
The town has already received $3.1 million from New York state to make improvements at the Van Rensselaer Square intersection, and it's pursuing additional money to widen and improve Route 4, Desso said.
Among the goals: sidewalks and bicycle paths along Route 4, as part of infrastructure improvements there.
Asked what else he'd like to see, Desso had no shortage of ideas.
"We need a gym in town. We need a few more restaurants. We need, and we are working on, a very nice town park," he said.
Meanwhile, the businesses keep coming.
Across the river on Broadway in Menands, Save-More Wines & Liquors posted a sign last week that it would close Friday after 40 years in business along what was once one of the Capital Region's busiest commercial strips.
It plans to open later this week on Route 4 in North Greenbush.
eanderson@timesunion.com 518-454-5323
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Allowing a former police officer to decide your criminal case might sound unfathomable.
But at least one defendant in Albany County Court took that chance recently with Judge William Carter, a former state trooper, even though she was charged with assaulting a Bethlehem police officer.
And that defendant, Aisha Talley, 37, of Orange County, was acquitted. This was after the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Shanza Malik, told the judge in her opening argument that the officer required months of physical therapy for an injury to the officer's hand that made it appear "broken and bent in a million directions."
Law Beat knows of at least one other defendant who is willing to take that same chance before the veteran judge.
If this is the start of a trend, the well-documented history between Carter and Albany County District Attorney David Soares' office makes it all the more interesting.
Soares and Carter waged a three-year war that ended up being decided at the Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state, over the very minor arrest of Occupy Albany protesters. That was over the issue of whether the judge could compel Soares to call witnesses at a pretrial hearing and whether he could hold Soares and his office in contempt if he refused.
The Court of Appeals eventually ruled in Soares' favor but even then-Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman noted the case involved a "personal issue back and forth" between Carter and Soares.
Is that enough of a reason for defense attorney to advise a client to risk a non-jury trial? One would imagine not.
But it's certainly possible the perception alone of those past issues between the judge and district attorney's office could sway a lawyer to make such a recommendation.
It is not to say that Carter did not decide the Talley case on the merits. Talley's decision to waive a jury trial to have her assault-on-a police-officer case decided by a former state trooper was certainly an unusual choice that obviously paid off.
The next defendant might face a different outcome.
When a criminal defendant waives the right to a jury trial and puts their legal fate in the hands of a judge, it is a risk.
Judges know the history of the case. They know the defendant's criminal record. They know the law and court system and won't acquit someone because the case failed to have devastating forensic evidence as seen shows like "Law & Order: SVU."
And, of course, they might be former prosecutors -- or former cops.
Washington
Federal agencies grappled Saturday with the vast scale of the disaster in Puerto Rico left by Hurricane Maria, the third major storm to strike the U.S. in less than a month.
Three days after the massive hurricane crossed the U.S. territory, towns remained without fresh water, fuel, power or phone service.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said meals, water and supplies were being delivered to the island and some airports were reopening. But it was not clear how quickly relief and fully restored power and phone service would reach residents.
"This is going to be a long and frustrating process for everybody. There is tremendous damage on the island," said William Booher, director of public affairs for FEMA.
Booher said there was no difference in the agency's response in Puerto Rico, compared with Texas, Louisiana and Florida after recent hurricanes. FEMA has had sufficient resources to deal with back-to-back-to-back hurricanes, he said, adding "we've been able to address each one of them."
Still, while FEMA officials train to respond to more than one disaster at once, three blows in the space of a few weeks offered a monumental challenge. Booher said there were about 5,000 emergency personnel in Puerto Rico, including some staff permanently assigned to the island.
President Donald Trump has issued disaster declarations for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
He visited Texas, Louisiana and Florida in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, but he had not yet traveled to Puerto Rico.
"We're going to start it with great gusto, but it's in very, very, very perilous shape. Very sad what happened to Puerto Rico," Trump said.
Several airports opened. Ships carrying food, water, generators headed to the islands as supplies flew in. Sailors and Marines conducted damage assessment flights, beach assessments and evacuated a U.S. Virgin Islands hospital.
Officials said 1,360 of the island's 1,600 cellphone towers and 85 percent of phone and internet cables were knocked out.
Suggesting a long slog ahead, the Energy Department said roads must be cleared before emergency responders assess damage so "work of power restoration can begin." More than 120 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers offered temporary roofing, infrastructure evaluation and debris removal. More than 1,600 National Guard service members aided both islands.
There were no on-camera briefings from FEMA Administrator Brock Long as there were after Harvey and Irma.
Booher said "we continually evaluate how we can get that messaging out."
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New York
The destructive floodwaters of Superstorm Sandy receded quickly, but some storm victims are still neck-deep in a battle over insurance payouts. And many victims of this year's storms in Texas, Florida and elsewhere should brace themselves for a similar fight, lawyers involved in Sandy insurance battles say.
As Sandy's fifth anniversary approaches Oct. 29, more than 1,000 families in New York and New Jersey are still fighting with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over their flood insurance claims, according to government statistics.
The FEMA-run National Flood Insurance Program paid out $8.2 billion to about 144,000 policyholders after Sandy, a critical safety net that saved many homeowners from financial ruin.
But many victims complained they were shortchanged by private insurance companies hired to administer the program and left with too little money for repairs. Under pressure from Congress, FEMA reopened the Sandy claims process in 2015 and since then has paid out an additional $396 million, but some property owners continue to argue in that they are owed more.
In the barrier island city of Long Beach, Jamilyn Spellman is among those still fighting, even though her Sandy-damaged home has long since been demolished, the land beneath it sold, and its original owner her mother has died of cancer.
"She just wanted to die at home," said Spellman. But "she died displaced ... literally, in the hospice, talking about FEMA."
After nearly every major storm, lawyers for Sandy victims said, disputes arise over fair payouts that can be maddeningly difficult to resolve.
"It has been a struggle every step of the way," said August Matteis, a Washington, D.C., lawyer whose firm is representing about 1,200 policyholders going through the FEMA review. "FEMA is still fighting us tooth and nail for every penny."
Amy Bach, executive director of the advocacy group United Policyholders, said the lessons of Sandy and other past storms show that victims of this year's hurricanes need to take an aggressive approach to their claims, too. She said, victims should thoroughly photograph their home's condition, inside and out, before making even temporary repairs or cleaning out debris.
"You need to be proactive in documenting and valuing your losses if you want to get a fair, full and timely settlement," she said.
The National Flood Insurance Program was created to protect homeowners unable to buy private sector insurance because they live in high-risk flood zones.
Many homeowners with Sandy policies settled quickly but more than 2,000 sued over what they called sloppy work by insurance adjusters and structural engineers rushed into the disaster zone to evaluate damage.
Some homeowners and their lawyers uncovered evidence that at least two engineering companies hired by insurers had a practice of rewriting reports turned in by field inspectors. This caused FEMA to take the unprecedented step of allowing all Sandy victims to have their claim re-examined. About 19,500 policyholders asked for a review.
According to the last FEMA update, released Sept. 8, most of those reviews had been completed. But about 1,100 policyholders were still in an appeals process, with a neutral reviewer going over their claim.
FEMA officials said their priority is getting claims paid fairly as quickly as possible. It set a target of Oct. 25 for completing arguments in the Sandy claim review.
The agency has also undertaken a series of reforms since Sandy. Among other things, it has already decided to give victims of Hurricane Harvey a year to document their losses. Sandy victims were initially told they had just 60 days, though deadlines for many were later extended.
The Spellmans' insurance fight is similar to a lot of the other insurance disputes that have dragged out.
Sandy's storm surge inundated the property with 3 feet of water, opened a small sinkhole under part of the house and put a hole in the foundation.
An engineer hired by the insurance company said the building could be saved and FEMA awarded the family about $104,000 for repairs. Contractors hired by the family said the damage was bad enough that it would cost at least $300,000 more than the family's $250,000 policy.
The house was eventually razed in hopes the family could put up a modest modular home. And finally, the lot was sold last December because the family could no longer afford the mortgage and taxes.
Jamilyn Spellman holds onto hope that when the fight with FEMA ends, she'll end up with what her mother was "rightfully entitled to and fought for."
"It would help so much ... but the damage is already done," she says. "My mother's gone. The house is gone. For me, I feel like I've already lost what's important."
Baglung benefits from Muktinath tourism
The number of tourists travelling to Mustang, home to one of the most revered temple in Nepal, Muktinath has surged recently. This has boosted the tourism industry in Baglung district as tourists stop in the district on the way to Mustang.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Police are investigating after a man was shot near Otter and Sni a Bar Rd. Saturday afternoon. According to police, three black males approached the victim and asked him for a ride. The victim declined and tried to drive away.
OLATHE, Kan. -- Police are investigating a reported shooting in Olathe Saturday night. Officers were called to the area of 144th and Kaw Drive just before 10:30 p.m. When they arrived, they found a man with an apparent gunshot wound. He was taken to an area hospital in serious condition.
Based on provisional data by the Bank of Greece, in July 2017 the balance of travel services showed a surplus of 2,735 million, up 6.6% from a surplus of 2,566 million in July 2016. More specifically, travel receipts rose by 5.3% to 2,925 million in July 2017, from 2,777 million in the same month of 2016, while travel payments decreased by 9.8% (July 2017: 190 million, July 2016: 211 million). The rise in travel receipts is attributed to a 10.2% increase in inbound traveller flows, as average expenditure per trip fell by 4.5% to 552. Net receipts from travel services accounted for 84.4% of total net receipts from services and more than offset (181.3%) the goods deficit.
In January-July 2017, the balance of travel services showed a surplus of 5,909 million, up 8.1% from a surplus of 5,467 million in the same period of 2016. This development was driven by both an increase in travel receipts (up 420 million or 6.4%) and a drop in travel payments (down 21 million or 1.9%). The rise in travel receipts was due to an 8.0% increase in inbound traveller flows, as average expenditure per trip declined by 1.4%. Net receipts from travel services offset 55.3% of the goods deficit and accounted for 69.6% of total net receipts from services.
Travel receipts
In July 2017, as mentioned previously, travel receipts increased by 5.3% year-on-year. In more detail, receipts from residents of the EU28 rose by 2.4% to 1,910 million, while receipts from outside the EU28 also rose, by 11.8% (July 2017: 930 million, July 2016: 832 million). The rise in receipts from within the EU28 was due to increased receipts by 3.6% from euro area residents (July 2017: 1,173 million, July 2016: 1,132 million) and by 0.5% from residents of non-euro area EU28 countries (July 2017: 738 million, July 2016: 734 million). Breaking down receipts by visitors country of origin, receipts from France fell by 11.0% to 188 million, whereas receipts from Germany increased by 10.1% to 370 million. Receipts from the United Kingdom also increased by 12.7% to 385 million. Turning to non-EU28 countries, receipts from Russia rose by 12.0% to 110 million, whereas receipts from the United States decreased by 11.6% to 127 million.
In January-July 2017, travel receipts increased by 6.4% year-on-year to 7,039 million. This development is attributed to increases in receipts from within the EU28 by 5.6% to 4,595 million and in receipts from outside the EU28 by 8.5% to 2,195 million. In particular, receipts from euro area residents rose by 9.7% to 2,868 million, whereas receipts from residents of non-euro area EU28 countries fell by 0.7% to 1,727 million. Specifically, receipts from France rose by 3.9% to 465 million and receipts from Germany increased by 13.5% to 1,059 million. Receipts from the United Kingdom also increased, by 7.5% to 1,015 million. Turning to non-EU28 countries, receipts from Russia rose by 11.3% to 231 million, whereas receipts from the United States decreased by 11.2% to 366 million.
Inbound traveller flows
In July 2017, the number of inbound visitors rose by 10.2% year-on-year to 5,142 thousand. Specifically, visitor flows through airports increased by 10.3% and visitor flows through road border-crossing points increased by 10.6%. This development is attributed to higher visitor flows from both within the EU28 (up 8.7%) and outside the EU28 (up 13.4%). In greater detail, visitors from the euro area increased by 6.9% to 1,737 thousand, while visitors from the non-euro area EU28 countries also rose, by 10.7% (July 2017: 1,679 thousand, July 2016: 1,517 thousand). Specifically, the number of visitors from France increased by 4.4% to 274 thousand, as did the number of visitors from Germany, by 13.9% to 514 thousand. The number of visitors from the United Kingdom also increased, by 24.3% to 560 thousand. Turning to non-EU28 countries, the number of visitors from Russia rose by 6.4% to 127 thousand, whereas the number of visitors from the United States fell by 14.9% to 117 thousand.
In January-July 2017, the number of inbound visitors rose by 8.0% to 13,082 thousand (January-July 2016: 12,111 thousand). Specifically, visitor flows through airports increased by 10.9%, while visitor flows through road border-crossing points also increased, by 1.8%. In the period under review, the number of visitors from within the EU28 increased by 8.2% year-on-year to 8,748 thousand, as did the number of visitors from outside the EU28, by 7.7% to 4,334 thousand. Visitors from the euro area increased by 13.8%, while visitors from the non-euro area EU28 countries also rose, by 2.6%. Specifically, the number of visitors from France increased by 9.0% to 687 thousand, as did the number of visitors from Germany, by 16.6% to 1,562 thousand. Visitors from the United Kingdom also increased, by 10.1% to 1,518 thousand. Finally, turning to non-EU28 countries, the number of visitors from Russia increased by 11.4% to 313 thousand, whereas the number of visitors from the United States fell by 6.2% to 416 thousand.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Dimboukas License: CC-BY-SA
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has agreed to pump $150 million in direct investments in Egypts agriculture sector in partnership with the countrys private sector, a senior Egyptian government official said.
The investments aim at developing the countrys nutrition sector, introducing the newest technologies in manufacturing, as well as providing new job opportunities for the youth Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr was quoted as saying Emirates news agency Wam, which cited Ahram Online.
The IFC is a member of the World Bank Group, which focuses on developing the private sector in developing countries.
The deal comes following a meeting between Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi with World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim in New York on Thursday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings, where the two discussed cooperation between Egypt and the bank.
Nasr expressed her aspirations for further cooperation with the World Bank group, and hopes to sign new investment agreements during the upcoming annual meetings of the Bank in Washington in October.
According to the World Banks data, the current portfolio of the World Bank in Egypt includes 26 projects for a total commitment of $5.92 billion.
Egypts net foreign direct investment rose by 14.5 per cent to $7.9 billion in the 2016/17 fiscal year.
Constitution accommodates aspirations of all Nepalis: PM
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that the Constitution of Nepal accommodates the aspirations of all Nepalis and lays the foundation for the countrys inclusive development and economic prosperity.
AIM Startup, a major initiative by the UAE Ministry of Economy and part of the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM), has partnered with key Saudi Arabian institutions that will help spearhead entrepreneurship in the region.
Dawood Al Shezawi, chief executive officer of AIM Startup, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Osama Ashri, head of Development and Strategic Alliances of Prince Mohammad Bin Salman College of Business that will see both organisations nurture the growth of entrepreneurship in the region.
Al Shezawi also signed an MoU with Nawaf Al Sahhaf, chief executive officer of Badir Programme for Technology Incubators KSA, confirming the programmes participation as a Gold Sponsor Saudi of AIM Startup 2017-2018.
Entrepreneurship is an important solution to the needs of the Arab youth and we have seen a major shift in government policies to empower the youth with the right tools so that they can become job creators, instead of becoming job-seekers, Al Shezawi said, following the signing of the agreements.
AIM Startup with a theme of Technology for Sustainable Development and Inclusive Growth is going to become the epicentre of entrepreneurship and start-up movement in the Arab World and the latest partnership with three key Saudi institutions will help us to strengthen the start-up movement in the region and help spearhead youth employment.
AIM Startup is a platform where disruptive startups from across the world gather to present their groundbreaking products or services on a truly global stage. AIM Startup was launched in 2017 as an initiative of the UAE Ministry of Economy to connect promising startups with investors and business partners from other parts of the world.
AIM Startup is set in the heart of the UAEs Annual Investment Meeting, the worlds leading FDI Platform for emerging markets and held under the Patronage of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.
This year, 200 promising startups will convene under one roof to meet with investors, corporates, government representatives and industry experts and will be given the opportunity to demo their groundbreaking solutions to a global audience of more than 20,000 people.
Our deals to partner with three Saudi Arabian institutions are aimed at supporting the public sector initiatives with private sector participation and help the development of a healthy entrepreneurship eco-system that will continue to develop and help fund start-ups and create new tech-based employment, Al Shezawi said.
The number of start-ups in the Mena region spiked during the early 2000s with more than 150 initiatives by business incubators and non-profit organisations able to provide support services to aspiring entrepreneurs. In fact, for technology start-ups alone, more than 450 deals in the Mena region received a total investment of $750 million between 2013 and 2015, according to the State of Digital Investment in Mena report published in 2016.
A World Economic Forum report said: Middle Eastern cities have a long way to go before they can compete with leading global start-up hubs. Not a single Arab nation featured in The Global Startup Genome Ecosystem Report 2017, a survey which ranks global cities according to their ability to create environments in which start-ups thrive.
The good news is there is plenty of room for growth: Just 8 per cent of businesses in Mena have a digital presence, as compared to 80 per cent in the US, while 1.5 per cent of Menas retail sales are transacted digitally. The digital market is estimated to add $95 billion in annual GDP by 2020, with each digital job creating 2-4 more jobs in the economy.
AIM Startups initiatives will help increase the number of Arab entrepreneurs who will create employment and help absorb millions of young men and women waiting to be hired in the GCC and the wider Mena region.
Recent research by the Magnitt a large startup facilitator found the region now has over 3,000 startups and looked more closely at the founders of Menas top 100 funded startups.
It estimates there has been more than $870 million in startup investment last year. It found that the top 100 startups together have raised over $1.42 billion in funding and each startup has raised more than $500,000 individually.
It also found that on average, founders of the top 100 startups in the Mena region have 9 years of experience before starting. Some 40 per cent of startups were created by sole founders and 39 per cent have two co-founders. In terms of diversity, 12 per cent of successful founders are female in comparison to 15 per cent in the EU and 17 per cent in the US. It also found the UAE hosts 50 per cent of Menas top funded startups.
Some 68 per cent of Mena startup founders originate from the Middle East, despite many having dual citizenship. In terms of origin, 38 per cent of Menas 100 startup founders are from Lebanon and Jordan with only 16 per cent of startups headquartered there. That betrays something else: Dubai has become the Delaware of the Middle East, with actual HQs and development teams elsewhere.
With world population nearing 9 billion by 2025, sustainability should be at the heart of every conversation today. With world hunger, poverty, water scarcity, wasteful consumption, climate degradation and inequality threatening the very fabric of our social, environmental and economic well-being, now is the time to get actively involved if we wish to create the future that we desire, Al Shezawi concluded.
AIM Startup will host the second edition of its annual Innovation Showcase and Pitch Competition from April 9-11, 2018, in Dubai, UAE, in conjunction with the Annual Investment Meeting, Dubai International Government Achievements Exhibition, International Property Show, and Future Cities Show. TradeArabia News Service
Following last years success, leading platform Propertyfinder has signed up as the official property portal partner for the 10th edition of The Bahrain International Property Exhibition (Bipex) which opens its doors next month.
The event will be held at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Center from October 26 to 28 under the patronage of Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Abdulla Al Khalifa.
At the upcoming show, Propertyfinder.bh will be showcasing its comprehensive and technologically advanced portal and app to real estate professionals and visitors, said the event organisers, Bahrain Society of Engineers (BSE).
The Propertyfinder Group established in the UAE in 2007, is now present in seven key Middle Eastern markets with over 150,000 unique property listings across the propertyfinder Group network.
Each month, there are over 1 million visitors to propertyfinder Group sites with more than 7 million page views, they added.
Mohammed Khalil Alsayed, the chairman of Bipex 2017 board of directors, said: "We are happy to have propertyfinder.bh support us this year once again. This platform is an added value to all our exhibitors as it allows them to extend their reach in the GCC to the targeted audience."
As Bahrains leading property show, Bipex holds a significant place in the kingdoms real estate industry calendar of events, noted Alsayed.
"Several exhibitors have seen successful results using the portal and propertyfinder.bh will share that success during the exhibition. We both share the vision of promoting real estate projects by top developers that are helping to shape the region, and the economy overall," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Aramco took part in the four-day Biban SMEs Forum 2017, organised by the Small and Medium Enterprises Authority (Monshaat), which concluded recently (September 20) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Abdulaziz Al-Abdulkarim, vice president for Procurement & Supply Chain Management of Saudi Aramco, speaking during a panel discussion, said that such events serve economic development by supporting the crucially important entrepreneurship sector, fostering communication among SMEs, government and private sector, and leveraging innovative ideas.
In addition, promoting the success of SMEs, especially within the energy sector, aligns with Saudi Aramcos In-Kingdom Total Value Add (iktva) Program that aims at developing local content, creating jobs, and increasing the Kingdoms exports of energy products and services, he added. During the past three years, an annual average spending of approximately $12 billion was spent with over 4,000 SME, either directly by Saudi Aramco or through its supply chain.
Saudi Aramco participated in the event as a diamond sponsor and exhibitor through its Entrepreneurship Center (Waed) to highlight Waeds strategies and programs that nurture entrepreneurial ideas into viable projects and businesses.
An enabling ecosystem for small and medium enterprises is vital to the Kingdoms economic development and diversification objectives. Saudi Aramco took the initiative by creating Waed as a business incubator that offers entrepreneurs training, consulting services, non-collateral loans, and venture capital funding. It also helps in building relationships with key stakeholders in human resources, finance and market access, Al-Abdulkarim said.
Since its inception, Waed has provided $74 million in funding to about 96 companies, including a number of projects in the medical sector, technology marketing, and innovative solutions such as online payments. Waed plays a vital role in the Kingdoms knowledge-based economy amid expectations that start-ups will offer valuable products and services and create thousands of new jobs.
Biban Forum aims to develop the Kingdoms SMEs, which are represented by senior officials from different sectors, government bodies, investors, entrepreneurs, advisors, and organizers. TradeArabia News Service
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states have provided assistance to Yemen worth more than $15 billion over the last ten years, a senior GCC official revealed.
''Since 2015 until August 2017, the amount of humanitarian assistance provided to Yemen stood at $3 billion. Pledges of GCC donors within the international response plan for 2017 was more than $450 million while that outside the response plan amounted to $2.7 billion,'' Dr Abdulaziz bin Hamad Al-Owaisheq, Assistant Secretary-General of the GCC for Political Affairs and Negotiations, was quoted as saying by Wam, the official Emirates news agency.
He was speaking at a UN-organised, high-level meeting, which was held in New York on Friday on the fringes of the UN General Assembly's 72nd session, to discuss the humanitarian situation in Yemen.
During the meeting, in which GCC participated as an associate president together with the Kingdom of Sweden and the Kingdom of Holland, Dr. Al-Owaisheq confirmed the pioneering role of the GCC member countries in providing support for Yemen to help its people sustain the current crisis.
Developmental assistance, appropriated for infrastructure and rehabilitation projects, was over $11 billion. The GCC states have donated more than $90 million to curb cholera in Yemen and provided more than $600 tonnes of venous solutions targeting more than 350,000 beneficiaries, he informed.
Dr. Al-Owaisheq urged the donor community to increase their finance levels for the response plan for Yemen and accelerate the procedure of disbursing the pledges they made at Geneva on 25th April, 2017. He noted that some countries including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Britain and the United States have financed the plan with more than they previously pledged.
ON THE MOVE: Wedbush Hires Pair of Futures Traders
Wedbush Securities has hired futures trading veterans William Barry and Steven Slovak as Managing Directors to help grow and serve its institutional clients. The pair will work in the firms Fixed Income Financing, Futures and Rates Group and report to Managing Director Scott Skyrm. The two are based in Wedbushs New York office and will focus on expanding Wedbushs presence in the futures, options, and fixed income spaces leveraging a combined 60+ years of experience to help establish and further develop relationships with institutions seeking customized, low-latency trading services.
Bill Barry brings over 27 years of experience in securities trading business development. Previously, he served as Head of Global Business Development at Sage Trader, and as Managing Director at TFS Derivatives Corporation in New York. With a track record of work with institutional clients, Barry also worked in global business development at Jefferies, and 15 years leading international business development at Penson Worldwide.
Steve Slovak also served in Global Futures Business Development at Sage Trader, and as Director at TFS Derivatives Corporation. Previously, he worked at Jefferies, Inc., spending five years working in business development at Penson, and 12 years managing the international trade desk at Fimat USA, LLC.
If you have a new job or promotion to report, let me know at jdantona@marketsmedia.com
Market veteran Nick Savona has joined AX Trading as a Senior Advisor. Savona, a 26 year professional, was last with Global Maxfin Capital, a Toronto-based investment broker-dealer. While there, he sat on the institutional sales desk and launched a business handling employee stock option exercises and buybacks for public and private issuers. He has worked at TD Securities, ITG Canada, Northland Capital Partners and Liquidnet, as well as being active in the Securities Traders' Association.
Torstone Technology, a provider of post-trade securities and derivatives processing, has hired Mack Gill as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and member of the Board of Directors, based at Torstones London headquarters. Gill has a wealth of experience in capital markets technology, having worked with the worlds leading exchanges, clearing houses, depositories, banks and brokers; most recently in his role as CEO of MillenniumIT, a leading trading technology company and subsidiary of London Stock Exchange Group. Prior to that, he had a long tenure as a senior executive of global technology group, SunGard (now FIS), where he held a number of leadership roles including president of SunGard Technology Services, with responsibility for SunGards global technology strategy and consulting business.
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Rautes in Dailekh get help for Dashain festival (With photos)
Rautes in Dailekh district have received help from the Home Ministry to celebrate this year's Dashain festival.
Doctors protest hits patients hard
The ongoing strike called by the Nepal Medical Association has affected hundreds of thousands of patients across the country.
Neeraj Bagga
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, September 24
A city resident, Parvesh Masih, who has twice toured the country on bicycle, now wishes to go on a world tour. For this, he is seeking the Union Governments assistance.
The objective of his cycle expedition is to promote world peace and prosperity.
Earlier, he had toured the country on January 20, 2009 that began from Attari-Wagah border. He covered thousands of kilometres, visiting UP, Uttarakhand, Tibet, Leh, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Nepal, Assam, Sikkim, Bhutan, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Silchar, Mizoram and Manipur. He also toured Nepal and Bhutan in that expedition. It was his second expedition.
He said during his tour across the country he found countrymen peace loving and respectful. There was no discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, big or small. Politicians create trouble in order to increase their number of supporters, he said.
Responding to how he got the idea of his bicycle trips, he said, When I was small, I saw in movies the beautiful scene of nature, seas and mountains. There was an urge to see the natures beauty. It was then I decided that whether I have money or not, I will see the entire world and sought Gods blessing to undertake this journey.
His first cycle trip was from Amritsar to Kanyakumari. His cycle trips were not sponsored except that he was helped by the public wherever he reached.
He is married and has two sons and two daughters.
Tribune News Service
Mohali, September 24
The police today claimed to be close to cracking the blind double murder case of 65-year-old senior journalist KJ Singh and his 92-year-old mother Gurcharan Kaur.
Sources said the case had almost been cracked as the police had zeroed in on certain acquaintances of the victims as suspects, but was avoiding coming on record in this connection. Inspector General (Crime) Shashi Prabha Dwivedi, who is heading the special investigating team (SIT), said there was some development. However, she did not reveal anything.
Our teams are working on scrutinising the CCTV footage and call details in the case. We are sure that there will be a result in a day or two, said the IG (Crime).
A senior police official said on condition of anonymity that they had zeroed in on certain suspects. We are working on two-three theories, including a property angle and some relation, in the case. We have zeroed in on certain suspects in this regard. Certain facts are being verified, said the official, indicating that the case was on the verge being worked out.
After the cremation of both victims, Mohali SP (Detective) Harbir Singh Atwal, along with DSP Alam Vijay Singh and Inspector Sukhwinder Singh, reached the victims residence to record the statements of some close relatives again.
Atwal said they recorded the statements of some close relatives of the victims this evening as some facts needed to be verified again.
Apart from the SIT, teams of the Mohali police have been constituted to investigate the case.
Call details
KJ Singhs mobile phone, which the assailants took along, was switched on till around 9.15 pm on Friday. The last call, which lasted 280 seconds, was made by KJ Singh to his elder brother VP Singh at 7.27 pm on Friday. After that two messages from the service providers were received on KJ Singhs mobile phone at 8.49 pm. Ajay Pal, nephew of KJ Singh (who had gone to give lunch to his uncle on Friday), claimed that he too had sent some jokes to his uncle around 9.15 pm the same day. My messages were delivered to him but these were not seen. My uncle used to come online within 10 minutes normally but that wasn't the case on Friday, said Ajay Pal. The police claimed that 14 phone calls were made/received by KJ Singh on Friday. There was no call to/from any unknown person. Apart from the calls, the details of his phone showed some messages, most of which were sent by the service provider, said the police. The mobile phone of Gurcharan Kaur, which was also taken away by the miscreants, was found switched off. The police said she received a call from her daughter around 12.15 pm on Friday.
CCTV footage
According to the police, they have procured the footage of two CCTV cameras so far. The police are waiting for a neighbour, who is out of station, to return to get the footage from a third CCTV camera. Sources said the footage of one of the cameras showed rain. We are checking the movement of any vehicle or the Ford Ikon car which was taken away by the assailants after the crime, said the sources, adding that they were hopeful of getting some vital information from the CCTV footage.
Cremation
KJ Singh and his mother were cremated around 1.30 pm at the Mohali cremation ground on Sunday. The last rites were performed by KJ Singhs elder brother VP Singh. The Media Adviser of Capt Amarinder Singh expressed condolences to the family on behalf of the Chief Minister. Apart from close family members, a number of journalists from the tricity were present at the cremation ground. Earlier, the police handed over the bodies of the victims to the family after the postmortem around 12 noon.
KJs last chat with brother
According to family members, during his last chat on the phone with his elder brother VP Singh on Friday, KJ Singh talked about some person keeping an eye on his house for at least for "two and a half hours". He (KJ) told him (VP Singh) that a person was keeping an eye on the house since 4 pm and remained there till he (KJ) locked the main gate around 6.30 pm, said Yashpal Kaur, KJ Singh's younger sister. She said KJ Singh had also told her about somebody having thrown a thin but sharp iron rod in the house around 15 to 20 days ago. He told me that when he came out to check, he found nobody there, said Yashpal Kaur, adding that had her brother apprised the police of both incidents, the lives of her mother and brother could have been saved.
No clue of KJ's Ford Ikon
The police have no clue of KJ Singhs green Ford Ikon car, which the miscreants took along after the crime. Mohali SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal said the police had no clue of his car. The car is still untraceable, said Chahal.
Gate lock mystery
While family members claimed that KJ Singh used to lock the gate of the house from inside around 6.30 pm every day, the police claimed that they found no lock on the gate. According to Rekha, the domestic help, she came around 9 am on Friday. She rung the door bell several times from outside the gate of the house, which was found closed.
Multiple stab injuries
According to the preliminary postmortem report, KJ Singh received multiple stab injuries, between 14 and 17, with some sharp weapons while his mother was strangled to death. According to a member of three-member medical board, which conducted the postmortem of the victims on Sunday, the victims seemed to have died between 2 am and 4 am. On multiple injuries on KJ Singhs body, the doctor said one stab injury was close to his heart. His throat was also slit. He was stabbed repeatedly in the chest and abdomen. Besides, three fingers of his right hand were also found cut. He had multiple cut marks on his arms, hands and other body parts, said the doctor on condition of anonymity. The final report of the postmortem would be submitted to the police on Monday.
3 suspects seen in the locality
At least three criminals are suspected to be involved in the crime. An eyewitness saw three persons standing near the Ford Ikon car of KJ Singh around 9 pm on Friday, the day of the crime. The eyewitness told the police that one of them was smoking. The police are scrutinising the CCTV footage to get further clues in this regard.
Sandeep Sinha
The first time I heard of KJ Singh was when I met the then Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune, Mr HK Dua. I was then working for Hindustan Times in Delhi and had appeared in an interview for a job with The Tribune. I received a call from Mr Duas office asking me to meet him at the India International Centre (IIC) in Delhi.
Over a breakfast of vada-sambhar, Mr Dua told me it had been decided to hire me. He then asked me about my expected salary. My problem is that the CNE, Mr KJ Singh, gets this much, so I will have to keep it less, he said. I mumbled my agreement.
It was KJ Singh as the CNE that the Bathinda edaition of The Tribune was launched. I did not work with him in the Newsroom at Chandigarh but he helped wherever required.
Before leaving for Bathinda, he asked me to meet everyone in the Newsroom, especially Devinder Bir Kaur, who then headed the Punjab Desk and with whom I was to interact frequently. Do you make your own page? he asked. I also do it, he said.
He sent me the style sheet saying I had too much influence of my previous organisation on me and would keep telling me to retain good stories for the local pages as the edition needed a boost.
Surrounded by a bunch of young enthusiastic greenhorn reporters who saw me as their passport to the Punjab pages in the main paper, he sensed my predicament. Tell them not to push their stories.
The gentle but firm message had its effect.
He would be abreast of developments calling me up once early in the day to say there had been a canal breach in Bathinda. Was I aware? Certainly not sir!
KJ was a stickler for deadline. Copies were expected by 7.30 pm. Early in 2008, there was a tragedy at Chuhar Chak village in Moga district where a train had rammed into a school bus in the early winter morning fog at an unmanned crossing.
I accompanied the reporters to the spot. In the evening, noodle burgers in hand, we sat down in a cyber cafe to file the copies. I called up KJ Singh. We have taken agency copies, he said pointedly. I was astounded. It was only 6 o clock in the evening. I told him the reporters had slogged hard. He then drove home the point, Will the copies come in by 7.30? Needless to say, they were sent.
Outside of work, he was full of warmth on the few occasions that I met him, never refusing me leave, and always replying to my Diwali greetings with, Have a blast.
My last interaction with him was on Facebook where on Gandhi Jayanti day in 2015, I posed a question, Majboori Ka Naam Mahatma Gandhi Kyun Hai?
In reply, he sent me a brilliant blog that analysed why it was so: How Gandhi was helpless when Partition took place, why when all options fail, Gandhi remains the best bet, how Gandhi overcame all majbooris (difficulties) in life, how currency notes have an imprint of Gandhi because majboori emanates from money or lack of it, and relying on Gandhi was everyones majboori as there was no one else.
It was sad and shocking to hear of his death, even more so the manner of it. But his warmth and friendliness, I am sure, will continue to ring a bell.
Focus on farming
The evolution of agriculture in any country is gauged by its average farm size. As agriculture adopts new technologies and innovations, it gradually rises up in scale and subsequently production.
Nitin Jain
Let her be, at least now... Gauri Lankesh met with a violent end. She was not violent. Only she firmly believed in what she did and spoke her mind about it. Time for a dignified mourning for a fine journalist and not wasteful talk whether activism makes one a lesser newsperson or not. By doing so, we are merely laying bare our own, hyperactive allegiances, little else.
Little did KJ Singh, brutally murdered along with his bedridden nonagenarian mother at his Mohali residence on Saturday, who posted these remarks on his Facebook wall on September 6, imagine that he too would meet the fate of Gauri Lankesh, who was gunned down at Bengaluru in Karnataka on September 5.
A tearful farewell was given to Singh and his mother on Sunday afternoon.
Recalling their association with KJ Singh, who had worked in senior positions in The Indian Express, The Times of India and The Tribune, seasoned journalists paid rich compliments to the departed soul and mourned the grave loss to the world of journalism.
Former Senior News Editor of The Indian Express, Parveen K Modi, said: A friendly backstop and a dependable ally, he was an asset on the news desk. Always full-sleeved even on hot and humid summer days, KJ nickname for Karan Jeet; not many of his peers knew his full name had the ability to polish any copy to make it readable. He took to computers like a fish takes to water and knew the language and its nuances well. His tragic death is a great loss to the world of the media, especially the desk. May his soul rest in peace.
His peers also took to the social media to express their outrage.
Kharar AAP MLA Kanwar Sandhu said: I am shocked at the murder of KJ Singh, my journalism colleague of many years. While the police are still investigating the gruesome murder and it may be too early to hazard any guesses, but on first thought one cannot but help saying that this is a telling commentary on the lawlessness that prevails in Punjab. Time for the CM to appoint a full-time Home Minister. I had an occasion to work with KJ closely when I was the Resident Editor of The Indian Express, Chandigarh, from 1993 to 2000. He was one of the senior colleagues on the desk and was instrumental in the launch of Chandigarh Newsline, which became a trendsetter of city pullouts in the country. KJs editing and layout skills were exemplary. He later went on to work for ToI and became the Chief News Editor of The Tribune. Though I had not met him for some time now, his diligence at work and quiet demeanour remains fresh in my memory and will remain so always. Farewell, KJ, my friend!
I still cant believe he is no more. A thorough professional and gentleman. He wouldnt hurt a fly and someone has taken his life so brutally, wrote the former Resident Editor of The Indian Express, Vipin Pubby, on his FB wall.
Senior journalist Manraj Grewal mentioned, Terribly heartbreaking. He was such an amazing person, an awesome teacher. Still cant believe this.
Former Chief of Bureau of The Tribune Prabhjot Singh expressed: Very sad to learn about this gruesome incident. KJ was a lovable, warm, friendly and a peaceful man. Why good people like him had to be a victim of such dastardly violence. My heartfelt condolences to all those who knew him. He was a great friend and a wonderful human being. It is a great personal loss.
Former journalist Ritu Ghai recalled: Fountain pens with different colour inks (something I copy till date), silk scarf around his neck and the infectious smile is what I want to always remember him for and not for September 23. Hope I got the language and punctuation right, KJ! Rest in peace...
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 24
The Panjab University (PU) Senate today decided to suspend assistant professor Komal Singh of public administration department on the campus for being a chronic molester and issue a show-cause notice to him asking why he shouldnt be removed from the service. There have been four complaints against Komal Singh. In two, he has been held guilty, one is still pending and another was later withdrawn.
The Senate is the punishing authority in his case. Meanwhile, some Senators expressed views for reducing punishment against him.
Debate in Senate
Senator Ajay Ranga said, The inquiry report has a lot of loopholes. He (Komal Singh) has problems. He is alcoholic. A family is also attached with him. The punishment of removal from service is harsh and should be lesser. He claimed that recent complaint against him was false.
Prof Chaman Lal said, I have no sympathy with Komal Singh. He is psychologically sick. We have to think about reformative justice, and recommended for sending him on a long forced leave. DP Randhawa also called for lesser punishment and claimed that he was an intelligent person. Prof Shelley Walia called for his rehabilitation.
But Vice-Chancellor Arun Kumar Grover said, How will we ensure safety of women students? He couldnt be allowed to remain in touch with women students. Without students there is no university. Despite being guilty in two cases, a third complaint is pending against him. He added that after his first complaint, he was sent to the University School of Open Learning (USOL) so that he could rehabilitate but he didnt. The USOL is a correspondence studies department.
He forced me to send him back to the public administration department. Then second incident took place. Who pays for his family? They are taxpayers and their wards are being molested, said Prof Grover.
Senator Prof Navdeep Goyal, who is also chairperson of physics department, called for action. As per the Sexual Harassment Act, the employer has to act in 60 days. There is no need to violate it further. The Syndicate has recommended twice for major penalty against him, he said.
IS Chadha and VK Sibal also called for major penalty, which is removal from service. What kind of message will we give to the outside world? said Sibal.
President of the Panjab University Teachers Association (PUTA) Prof Rajesh Gill said, He (Komal Singh) is mentally sick and has been indulging in verbal abuse. I agree with Ranga that inquiry report should be discussed. An appropriate action as per the act should be taken.
Prof Rajat Sandhir, former PUTA president, said he had encountered a case where Komal Singh was dragging a girl student in the car. We must accept the report. Society is looking at us. The girl students are looking at us. I am fine with sending him on forced leave of three years for rehabilitation, he said.
Dean of University Instructions Prof Meenakshi Malhotra said, Such cases should be taken seriously. We are sending message that our children are not safe.
Cases against Komal Singh
The first complaint against Singh came when he misbehaved with a student and wrongfully facilitated her in getting a hostel room. Later, the complaint was withdrawn but he had to resign from chairpersonship.
On September 10, 2015, an MA student lodged a complaint against him as he indulged in sexual talks with her. The victim told that on September 4, 2015, Singh called her on phone and said, Teri ankhen badi sundar hai, meri wife se milti hai (Your eyes are very beautiful and are similar to my wifes). Teri ankhon mein bada dard hai (There is pain in your eyes), and I love you, I love you. After the Panjab University Committee against Sexual Harassment (PUCASH) held him guilty, the Syndicate on May 28, 2017 decided to remove him from service which however doesnt disqualify him from future employment.
In the second proved case of sexual harassment of a 3rd year student, as per PUCASH, he used sexually coloured abusive language and pulled the hair of the victim. He was alleged to be drunk. The PUCASH in its report dated May 31, 2017 commented that repetitive misconduct always warrant more stringent punishment and called for major penalty.
The Syndicate in its meeting on June 25 again recommended for his removal from service and condemned him for writing to chancellor too.
In the fourth case, he entered into a class in inebriated condition and misbehaved with women students in the public administration department. The students later lodged the case. It is pending with the PUCASH.
Kharar: A student of CGC-Jhanjeri, Gurjot Singh, suffered serious injuries when his motorcycle was hit by a Santro car near Sante Majra village on the Kharar-Landran road this evening.
He is staying with his friends as a paying guest in Shivalik City. Gurjot was taken to the Civil Hospital, Kharar, where doctors referred him to the PGI. OC
Lt Gen (Retd) Vijay Oberoi
Lt Gen (Retd) Vijay Oberoi
THE media has dubbed the recent Cabinet reshuffle the BJP plan for the 2019 general election while it views the appointment of the new Raksha Mantri (RM) Nirmala Sitharaman more in gender terms rather than abilities! Maybe so, but there was a sense of relief in the bulk of the military fraternity, that this government has stopped treating the defence portfolio as a temporary parking place for political leaders.
But Ms Sitharamans appointment wasnt really a der aaye durust aaye moment though it seems PM Modi has realised that defence was neither a part-time portfolio nor one for a light-weight provincial.
Seasoned political punters were convinced from day one that an IIT graduate like Manohar Parrikar would not be allowed to survive in Delhis political system. Before Parrikar, PM Modi had rewarded a loser at the polls with the two most important portfolios finance and defence forgetting that the incumbent had a bone to pick with the military, as he blamed them for losing the only election he had fought in his long political career!
However, when he brought back the gentleman again as a temporary stand-in, it was perplexing indeed! If he had gone back in time, he may have realised that giving two major portfolios to one person is fraught with danger.
During PM Vajpayees time when External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh was given additional charge of the Defence Ministry, the Indo-Pak Agra Summit was a disaster, possibly because there was one less adviser in the Cabinet.
The importance of a permanent RM is obvious, as the incumbent is a member not just of the Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS), but also of the Cabinet Committee of Political Affairs (CCPA) and Economic Affairs (CCEA), the three most important policy-making committees of the executive. The RM also sits on the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. The RMs presence and independent advice are therefore essential on major policy decisions.
The new RM has ingrained professional abilities: high IQ level; dedication; and common sense; the last being extremely crucial as it is the man behind the gun who is the most important component of the military. There is a need for application of mind before issuing orders and instructions that affect Army personnel. Ms Sitharaman had displayed these attributes when she was the party official spokesperson. Her competence and panache were visible in what are called debates/ panel discussions by our TV channels but actually are verbal slugfests of the worst kind!
After the 2014 elections, she was given the important Commerce portfolio. She may have handled her portfolio well but she did build a positive reputation of being a feisty lady who kept the bureaucracy in line and carried out her assignments without the usual fanfare that political leaders are known for.
Her elevation to head an extremely important ministry was therefore welcome. This Ministry is stuffed with a huge number of bureaucrats, including four Secretary-level officials, who need a strong leader as the defence minister. Hopefully she will be able to deflate their egoistic image of themselves!
But the new RM has started her innings by issuing incorrect orders to the armed forces. Apparently this was done at the behest of the PMO to clean up the litter left by tourists in high-altitude areas. She also issued sundry instructions regarding cleanliness in military stations, cantonments and bases. These orders are absurd, to put it mildly. Obviously, no one has recalled that similar orders were issued in the late 1950s that eventually resulted in the 1962 fiasco.
At that time, then RM VK Krishna Menon had embarked on Project Amar (construction of barracks and family accommodation by troop labour) despite objections by the then Army Chief General KS Thimayya. They were implemented by the ambitious Bijji Kaul, then GOC of 4 Infantry Division at Ambala. The result was the Division had no time to train for war.
Even when the Division had been ordered to move to NEFA (now part of Arunachal Pradesh), plans, Mr Menon was drawing up a blueprint for Project Amar II, which were mercifully jettisoned at the behest of the Army hierarchy. When the war with China erupted in 1962, it was this very division that was annihilated. One need not go into any more details, except to say that if you use the armed forces for carrying out non-military tasks, the result is catastrophic.
Our northern borders continue to be in dispute. Hopefully the sterling role played by the Army in handling the Doklam stand must be fresh in memory. Till the border problem is solved, such incidents will continue. Yet, the mandarins in the PMO have issued an illogical order asking the Army to clean up the litter left behind by uncaring tourists in high-altitude areas, obviously at the cost of their operational tasks and training. It is the dumbest order in the last 50 years. The MoD as usual has acted as a postman and simply forwarded it to the armed forces with the new RM publicly announcing it during her maiden visit to Western Command.
The authority of the civil administration extends to the remotest corners of the country and includes the entire stretch of all land borders of India. It is the job of the civil administration to administer all assigned areas under their control. Why are they first not ensuring that no tourists leave any litter? And if they fail to do so, they have the resources, funds and authority to clean up. The armed forces, both in field areas, peace stations and different types of bases have always kept their habitat clean, green and hygienic. They are actually models for the civilians to emulate. So why have such orders/instructions been issued?
The last pay commission, despite vehement opposition by the armed forces, also decreed high-altitude allowances for civil officials of all categories! Are they earning them?
It appears that since the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has made little headway, the government wants to boast of at least cleaning up the litter of tourists so that their propaganda machinery can save face.
The RM, the PMO and the MoD must rescind this absurd order immediately.
The writer is a former Vice-Chief of Army Staff
Auckland, September 24
Three Indian-origin politicians, including two women, have been elected to New Zealand's Parliament in the General Election, in which the center-right governing party has been placed first but failed to capture a parliamentary majority.
Kanwaljeet Singh Bakshi, Dr Parmjeet Parmar and Priyanca Radhakrishnan have successfully made it to the 121-member Parliament in New Zealand.
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While Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi is all set to begin his fourth successive term, it will be Parmjeet Parmar's second term (both list MPs of National Party), and 38-year-old Priyanca Radhakrishnan will debut as the Labour Party's list MP.
The centre-right National party will have to assemble a coalition if it wants to extend its nine-year hold on power.
The National Party got 46 per cent of the vote, beating back a late surge by the center-left Labour Party, which received 35.8 per cent, New York Times quoted the Electoral Commission statement. Smaller parties took the rest.
The centre-right National Party, which has been in power for nearly a decade, led by Prime Minister Bill English was contested by the centre-left Labour Party led by Jacinda Ardern, the New Zealand First Party and the Greens. Prime Minister Bill English delivered a victory speech in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, but his main challenger, the Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern, did not immediately concede defeat.
Bakshi is both, New Zealand's first Indian and first Sikh member of parliament. He was first elected in the 2008 elections. Delhi-born Bakshi graduated from the University of Delhi in 1985 and moved to New Zealand in 2001 with his family.
Mahesh Bindra, a sitting list MP of New Zealand First Party, is out of the Parliament as his party failed to garner enough votes.
Parmar, who lives in Auckland, migrated to New Zealand from India in 1995. She holds a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Auckland and Bachelor and Masters degrees in Biochemistry from the University of Pune.
Radhakrishnan, born in Paravur in Ernakulam district of Kerala, grew up in Singapore before finally moving to New Zealand as an International student. She attended Victoria University of Wellington and graduated with a Masters degree in Development Studies.
Bakshi, who contested from Manukau East constituency in Auckland, could only secure 3,969 votes against his main Labour Party rival's 14,004. Parmar did better in the Mt Roskill, Auckland constituency and 10,168 people cast their vote in her favour against Labour Party candidate securing 15,843.
Radhakrishnan, who could not secure enough votes in 2014 election to make it to the Parliament, lost again this year and received 10,395 in Maungakiekie, Auckland seat against her rival's 12,338 votes. ANI
When in opposition, politicians want the courts to breathe down the government's neck. Those at the receiving end of the courts' interest, term it as needless judicial activism. On Friday, the Supreme Court asked the states to frame schemes to compensate victims of crime, including cow vigilantism. It had earlier asked states to appoint nodal officers by October 31 to nip this menace. The Court will have more to say when the states file their compliance reports later this month. But the Narendra Modi government can hardly complain about the Supreme Court's order on reigning in the so-called cow protectors. The PM is on record in two speeches in which he decried, with customary practiced passion, the mayhem let loose by self-appointed saviours of bovines. His ideological mentor and the RSS chief has also spoken on the issue, at a closed door meeting with foreign envoys. There is widespread recognition that the turmoil on the streets of India is troubling overseas investors with a social conscience such as the pension funds.
The state is the first responder to any disturbance in law and order. But the ghastly business of cow vigilantism took firm organisational roots with the advent of the BJP government at the Centre. Its karyakartas who became Ministers provided the social and moral legitimacy to the so-called cow protectors as part of their push to create a nation-wide eco system of obscurantist beliefs like Durga being the first Defence Minister. The zealotry of religion has now created terror among professions transporters, dairy farmers and meat traders as well as societal groups, especially the Muslims and Dalits.
The Central Government's quiet acquiescence gave moral legitimacy to the vigilantes by tightening the laws on cattle slaughter. This left the courts as the sole arbitrators of life and liberty. It has stepped into the breach by passing orders for the appointment of senior police officer in every district to stop violence in the name of cow protection. The Modi government's unhelpful attitude and deliberate slothfulness has forced the Court to draw the lines of responsibility and restraint.
Parveen Arora
Tribune News Service
Karnal, September 24
The state crime branch has started inquiry into the death of Bharat, alias Sonu Wadhwa, younger brother of Deputy Mayor Manoj Wadhwa.
Sonus body was recovered from the augmentation canal near Bhusli village on September 15, two days after his car was found abandoned on the bank of the same canal near Unchasamana village.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar visited Manojs residence today to pay his condolences. Leaders of various political parties, local traders and family members and relatives of the deceased handed over a memorandum to Khattar, demanding a fair inquiry.
An INLD leader, Manoj had contested the last Assembly elections against Khattar. Manoj told the Chief Minister that his brother was innocent and was not an accused in the case registered at the Taraori police station on December 30 last.
He said the case was registered against him and their father Radhe Shyam. He said the police had recovered Rs 16.42 lakh from their accountant Mohit and claimed that the amount was Rs 70 lakh.
We had got a clean chit from the Income Tax Department after producing all relevant documents, but the police had been harassing us deliberately, which drove my younger brother to suicide, Manoj told the Chief Minister. Manojs counsel and Congress leader Varinder Rathore told Khattar that the police stated in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 21 that the custody of any member of the Deputy Mayors was not required in connection with the case and the court directed the police to file an affidavit.
The Chief Minister assured the bereaved family members that justice would be delivered and the guilty would not be spared.
SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said SPs Kamal Deep Goyal and Surender Pal Singh had started investigation into the case registered at the Taraori police station and Manojs complaint against two DSPs and an Inspector.
Goyal is inquiring the case registered against Radhe Shyam and his son and Singh is investigating the allegations levelled by Manoj, he said. They had recorded the statements of Manoj and his father while the statements of their accountant and family members were yet to be recorded, he added.
Mukesh Tandon
Tribune News Service
Panipat, September 24
Four days after the molestation of a nine-year-old student in the toilet of The Millennium School, the management removed Amita Kochhar from the post of principal today.
The school management issued a press note this evening that in view of formation of a special investigation team by Deputy Commissioner Chander Shekhar Khare to probe the matter, it decided to relieve Kochhar from her post with immediate effect.
The school management appealed to parents to restore calm and come together for reopening of the school in the interests of education of children.
Enraged over the molestation, score of parents took out a protest march from the school to the women police station in Sector 13.
Members of various social and business organisations took part in the march. Hundreds of protesting parents and children held banners demanding justice and safety.
The protesters staged a dharna in front of the gate of the women police station. The gate of the police station was closed and heavy police posse deployed at the dharna site.
The parents staged a dharna for more than three hours and demanded arrest of the school principal. SDM Vivek Chaudhary and other officials tried to pacify the protesters, but they remained adamant on their demand for arrest.
The parents also gathered in front of the school gate this evening and raised slogans against the school management and principal.
Teachers back principal
Teachers of The Millennium School protested at the DCs residence against sacking of Amita Kochhar, alleging that the principal was removed under pressure. They said principals and teachers of all private schools in the district would take to the streets on Monday if the principal was not reinstated.
Ashok Raina
Kangra, September 24
Tension gripped Kangra town today following the murder of a 29-year-old labourer from Uttar Pradesh and subsequent protests against the police for not nabbing the actual culprit even after the lapse of 18 hours.
Sanjeev Chauhan, Sub-divisional Police Officer, Kangra, said Sewa Lal Nishad, a resident of Lockipur in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, was working as a labourer here and was stabbed to death in the Jayanti Vihar locality of the town last evening.
He said three persons were suspected to have been involved in the crime and one of them was arrested under Section 302 of the IPC and the police were looking for the other two co-accused persons involved in the crime.
According to the relatives of the victim, at 8.30 pm, the victim received a call from his co-workers from Jayanti Vihar that there was an altercation between two other persons. Sewa Lal rushed to the spot where one of the accused persons arrived and allegedly stabbed Sewa Lal to death. Raju Nishad, cousin of the victim, alleged that the police arrested only one person and were lax in nabbing the other culprits. He alleged that the actual person was absconding due to police inaction.
The relatives of the victim and other migrants gathered outside the police station and kept the body there and blocked the main bazaar road leading to the temple. They raised slogans against the police and demanded justice. The protesters were joined by the wife of the victim and his other women members of the family. At one point of time, even the protesters tried to gatecrash into the police station. The police, however, stopped them from entering the police station.Chauhan tried to persuade the protesters, but in vain.
Meanwhile, the protesters took away the body from outside the police station and placed it on the Matour-Shimla state highway at Tehsil Chowk, leaving the traffic blocked on both sides. Tension prevailed in the area when hundreds of vehicles got stuck and the unarmed police was a mute spectator to the situation. Thousands of pilgrims are visiting the temple town in connection with the Ashwin Navratri and they had to face inconvenience.
The road remained blocked for one and half hours and even after an additional force arrived on the spot and Bhadur Singh, SHO, Kangra, tried to persuade them, yet the police were unable to pacify them. The police then took away the body from Tehsil Chowk. The protesters tried to chase the vehicle carrying the body, but in vain.
It was following the action by the police, the traffic was resumed on the highway. The police later handed over the body to his relatives and the body was cremated this evening.
The protesters sought intervention of the Utter Pradesh Chief minister Yogi Aditinath for giving them justice.Chauhan said that some protesters were booked for blocking the highway.
Blocked road opens after cops take away body
The road remained blocked for one and half hours and even after an additional force arrived on the spot and Bhadur Singh, SHO, Kangra, tried to persuade them, yet the police were unable to pacify them. The police then took away the body from Tehsil Chowk. The protesters tried to chase the vehicle carrying the body, but in vain. It was following the action by the police,, the traffic was resumed on the highway. The police later handed over the body to his relatives and the body was cremated.
Our Correspondent
UNA, SEPTEMBER 24
Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Prem Kumar Dhumal today said that the decision of the Virbhadra Singh government to seek additional loan amounting to Rs 700 crores was not right. Addressing media persons while on way to Delhi, he said the decision will put an extra burden on the states exchequer.
Dhumal said it was Virbhadra Singhs old habit of taking huge amounts of loans just before the expiry of his term to seek cheap publicity. He said the BJP governments have been forced to re-pay the installments when they come to power. He quipped that Virbhadra Singhe ideology was the same as that of ancient Indian sage Chavarak, who believed in living happily on the basis of the loans secured.
Dhumal said BJP chief Amit Shahs rally at Kangra had inthused the party cadres, who have fanned out to their respective areas to campaign for the BJP.
Reiterating that a number of Congress ministers and MLAs were ready to join the BJP, he said these leaders have been categorically told to join the BJP unconditionally.
Dhumal said the Central and state BJP leaders are keen to decide party candidates for the Assembly elections at the earliest. The BJP has conducted many surveys across the length and breadth of the state, which will help the party identify the winning candidates for the elections. He added that winnability would be the only criteria for allocation of party tickets for the Assembly elections.
Leaving out experts suggestions will have consequences: Dr KC
As parliamentarians rush to endorse the Health Profession Education (HPE) Bill without incorporating major suggestions of experts, Dr Govinda KC has warned of a fresh hunger strike from October 6.
Majid Jahangir
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, September 24
Three unidentfied militants were killed in a gunfight close to the Line to Control in Baramulla district of north Kashmir, Army said, adding that a combing operation is under way.
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The gunfight broke in Kalgai Uri, over 110 km from Srinagar, when the Army noticed movement of militants during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.
"An operation was immediately launched and a gunfight broke subsequently when militants believed to be three in number opened fire," defence sources said.
The operation was carried out en route from border town of Uri to Kaman. There was a possibility that the militants may have infiltrated only last night.
Army said three militants have been killed and a combing operation is under way. The identity of the slain militants is yet to be ascertained.
Two civilians and a soldier have also been wounded.
Jammu and Kashmir Police chief Shesh Paul Vaid said the militants trapped in Uri were planning a fidayeen attack on the lines of last year that had left 19 soldiers dead.
Last year, on September 18, an Army base in the Uri responsible for guarding the LoC came under attack, when a group of four fidayeen of the Lashkar-e-Toiba stormed it. At least 19 soldiers were killed in the attack. This was followed by the Army launching surgical strikes on militant launch pads in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Majid Jahangir
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, September 24
An alert Special Police Officer (SPO) on Sunday morning threw back a grenade tossed by militants inside a security vehicle in north Kashmir Sopore sub district on Sunday morning, averting a major tragedy as 15 security men were inside the vehicle.
However, the grenade exploded outside injuring four men, including the SPO.
Police said militants lobbed grenade towards a security forces vehicle in the main market near the State Bank of India branch and it fell inside it.
The alert SPO threw away grenade to safer place, which was hurled inside SF vehicle thus saving lives of dozen police, CRPF and civilians in Sopore, a police spokesman said.
Four persons, including the SPO, were injured in the grenade explosion.
"The injured were shifted to hospital where their condition is stated to be stable," a police officer said.
The area was immediately cordoned by the security forces to trace the militants involved in the attack.
Newton
A black-comedy film directed by Amit V Masurkar, Newton has been produced by Drishyam Films. In 2013, Masurkar had debuted in Bollywood with an independent film titled Sulemani Keeda. Newton is his second film and had its world premiere at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. The story of the film revolves around Newton Kumar, a rookie government clerk sent on election duty to a Naxalite and conflict-ridden jungles of Chhattisgarh, India. Stuck between security forces and communist rebels guerrilla attacks, he tries to conduct fair voting.
The film is meant for a niche audience and is backed by a compelling social message. My mom and I liked the movie, but we dont think masses will take to it the way we did.
An extraordinary make
The film has a nice concept, especially about fair elections in Chhattisgarh. The makers of the film have left no stone unturned to make the film look good. However, it is a one-time watch.
Sahil, ex-student of DAV College, Sec. 10
Haseena Parkar
Directed by Apoorva Lakhia, Haseena Parkar is a biographical crime thriller that has been produced by Nahid Khan. The film, which was initially titled Haseena: Queen of Mumbai, is based on the life of Dawood Ibrahim's sister Haseena Parkar. The film features Shraddha Kapoor's in her first-ever female lead role. Kapoor's real brother, Siddhanth Kapoor, portrays the role of Dawood Ibrahim, and Ankur Bhatia plays the role of Haseena's husband.
You can do better
In my opinion, Shraddha Kapoors acting was not too good. However, her on-screen husband, Ankur Bhatia, and the opposition lawyer have acted very well in the film. Also, Siddhanth Kapoor could do with some acting classes as well.
Mrinaal, student UILS department, PU
Average job
The storyline and direction of the film were very poor. Both, Haseena Parkar and Dawood did not act well in the film. Their characters, and the storyline, were weak. Overall, its not even a one-time watch.
Jyoti, works in a private company
Bhoomi
Staring Sanjay Dutt, Aditi Rao Hydari, and Sidhant Gupta in lead roles, Bhoomi is a revenge and action thriller. It has been directed and co-produced by Omung Kumar. The film revolves around the story of a doting father (Sanjay Dutt) and his daughter (Aditi Rao Hydari). Like any father, Sanjay chooses the best man for his daughter and dreams of seeing her tying the knot but then she gets sexually assaulted by Sarad Kelkar. What follows is Sanjay Dutt seeking revenge from those who ruined the life of his daughter.
Well-directed
I like the story of the film and it has been directed well too. Aditi Rao and Sanjay Dutts acting is brilliant. Overall, it is a must-watch.
Naman, a BBA student, Chitkara
University
Superb acting
Sanjay Dutt has made a great comeback with this film. I liked the story of the movie. One should go and watch the movie.
Nimrat, student
Nikka Zaildar 2
Starring Ammy Virk, Sonam Bajwa, and Wamiqa Gabbi in prominent roles Nikka Zaildar 2 is a Punjabi drama film directed by Simerjit Singh.
A good act
This is a great film. I hope everyone will love it. I liked this instalment of the film better than the first one.
Mandeep, student, DAV College, Sector 10
(As told to Taranjeet Kaur)
Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, September 23
Former Aam Aadmi Party leader Anjali Damania claimed on Saturday that gangster Dawood Ibrahim telephoned her from Pakistan and threatened to harm her if she did not withdraw cases filed against former Maharashtra minister Eknath Khadse..
Damania, an anti-corruption activist, said that Truecaller a telephone directory and reverse telephone directory application that has an integrated caller ID that displays details of the caller listed the number under the name Dawood 2.
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Damania said on Twitter that she got the call at 12.33 am, from a number with the country code +92 Pakistans code. In tweets that followed her first, Damania also said she had informed the chief minister and demanded action.
Last nght at 12.33,I recd a threatening call asking me to withdraw all cases against Khadse +922135871719 Truecaller shows Dawood 2 Pakistan.
Informed CM on threat call frm a landline number of Pakistan,asking me to withdraw all cases against Eknath Khadse.Jt CP Crime investigating.
I appeal to PM @narendramodi @PMOIndia & @rajnathsingh to give me time to urgently see them.Threat call? to a citizen? I want my Govt to act.
Last nght at 12.33,I recd a threatening call asking me to withdraw all cases against Khadse +922135871719 Truecaller shows Dawood 2 Pakistan pic.twitter.com/9GUqR2VVNt Mrs Anjali Damania (@anjali_damania) September 23, 2017
Informed CM on threat call frm a landline number of Pakistan,asking me to withdraw all cases against Eknath Khadse.Jt CP Crime investigating pic.twitter.com/Gsws5rO8WK Mrs Anjali Damania (@anjali_damania) September 23, 2017
I appeal to PM @narendramodi @PMOIndia & @rajnathsingh to give me time to urgently see them.Threat call? to a citizen? I want my Govt to act Mrs Anjali Damania (@anjali_damania) September 23, 2017
Indias most notorious gangster Dawood Ibrahim, who has been accused of having been the mastermind behind the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai that killed 257 people and left 713 grievously wounded, is currently believed to be in Pakistan.
She said she reported the call to Vakola police station in Mumbais western suburb Santacruz, but later accused police of not taking her complaint seriously.
"I have spoken to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who assured me that the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) will look into the matter," Damania told reporters.
Police have registered an FIR for criminal intimidation and criminal intimidation through anonymous communication under the Indian Penal Code, a policeman sai.
Khadse, who held several important portfolios in the Fadnavis cabinet, had to resign after allegations of corruption made against him by Damania and others in a public interest litigation petition. However, he denied the charges.
Shahira Naim
Tribune News Service
Lucknow, September 24
Several Banaras Hindu University students, including girls, were injured on Saturday night when Uttar Pradesh Police lathicharged them outside the Vice-Chancellors residence.
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The police from 18 neighbouring police stations jointly participated in the operation in which the police used tear gas shells and resorted to lathicharge on the protesting students. The police also allegedly fired at the students who retaliated with brick batting.
Local journalist, who were covering the midnight operation, alleged that male policemen did not even spare girl students.
The students alleged that the police thrashed them and dragged them by hair, but DM Varanasi, who was present on the spot, denied the claims.
Following the operation, an undeclared curfew-like situation prevails on the university campus. While the Dussehra break has been advanced by three days, the university has been shut till October 2. Vice-Chancellor G C Tripathi has warned of action against students if they do not vacate hostels by 5 pm on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the campus on Sunday turned into a fortress as girl students took out a peaceful march to protest against the police action.
BHU students have been protesting for the last few days against alleged molestation of a university student and the failure of the administration to act against motorcycle-borne men.
A large number of student protesters had been squatting in front of the Vice-Chancellors residence inside the campus and at one of the university gates for the last few days.
Due to the unrelenting students, the district administration had to change the route of Prime Minister Narendra Modis entourage away from the BHU crossing.
A large number of students were injured, some of them critically, in the brutal police action hours after PM Modi left his constituency.
For two days, the entire administration was on VVIP duty as besides the Prime Minister, Governor Ram Naik, CM Yogi Adityanath and several Central and state ministers were present.
Besides local journalist, several journalists from Lucknow covering the PMs Varanasi visit have also been injured in the attack.
A large number of CRPC and PAC have been posted on the campus where a curfew-like situation prevails.
While no district-level official was available for reaction, a doctor admitted that many students were brought to the BHUs trauma centre with injuries. Six policemen were also injured in the attack.
The protest started when a woman student of the Arts Faculty alleged that she was molested by three bike-borne men inside the campus as she returned to her hostel.
The three men abused her and fled when she resisted their attempts, she said.
The woman alleged that security guards, about 100 metres from where the incident happened, did nothing to stop the men.
She said her warden, instead of taking up the issue with her superiors, asked her why she was returning late to the hostel.
The wardens response angered the other residents of the hostel, who sat on a dharna at the main gate midnight Thursday.
One of the students even got her head tonsured.
The students said they have to face eve-teasers inside the campus regularly and the university administration was not taking any action to stop the miscreants.
The university has said it would advance its holidays which was scheduled from September 28-October 2 by four days starting Sunday.
Chief Minister Adityanath has demanded a report from the divisional commissioner over the incident, as opposition chorus grew condemning police action.
Principal Secretary Information Avanish Awasthi said that the Principal Secretary Home has spoken to district-level officers and the Varanasi District Magistrate had assured of proper investigation.
Criticism
Congress vice-president criticised the BJP of the violence.
"BJP version of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao in BHU," Gandhi said in his tweet, evoking the NDAs social campaign and attaching a video link of students who claimed that they were beaten up by male policemen at the campus.
Also in a tweet, former chief minister and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav criticised police action. The government should find a solution through talks and not force, he tweeted. With agencies
New Delhi, September 24
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday thanked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for recognising his government's "great vision" of setting up IITs and IIMs during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) address.
Sushma ji, thank you for finally recognising Congress governments' great vision and legacy of setting up IITs and IIMs Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) September 24, 2017
Taking to his Twitter page, the Congress leader said, "Sushma ji, thank you for finally recognising Congress governments' great vision and legacy of setting up IITs and IIMs."
Also read: Sushma at UN: We create IITs, Pak jihad factories
Addressing the 72nd UNGA session in New York, EAM Swaraj on Saturday ripped apart Pakistan and said that India has established institutions like IITs, IIMs and AIIMS and Pakistan had created terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Haqqani network.
She added that India had produced scholars, doctors and engineers but the Asian neighbour produced terrorists. EAM Swaraj's fiery speech bashing Pakistan garnered attention from all the corners and several politicians, including Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh hailed her befitting reply to the Islamabad.
Congratulations to Smt. @SushmaSwaraj on her powerful, measured and nuanced articulation of Indias stand on the issue of terrorism at #UNGA Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 23, 2017
Singh took to Twitter and said, "Congratulations to Smt. @SushmaSwaraj on her powerful, measured and nuanced articulation of India's stand on the issue of terrorism at #UNGA (sic)"
He further tweeted, "Her measured responses in spite of provocations speak volumes of her maturity & tenacity. She has exposed Pakistan's duplicity on terrorism." ANI
Majid Jahangir
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, September 24
Security forces today foiled a Uri-style fidayeen attack, killing all three infiltrators close to the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmirs Baramulla district, even as a special police officer (SPO) in Sopore, showing exemplary bravery, threw away a grenade that landed inside a security vehicle with more than 15 personnel.
Seven persons, including the SPO, were injured when the grenade exploded in a Sopore market.
This is the second grenade attack in Kashmir in the past four days. On Thursday, J&K minister Naeem Akhter had escaped a grenade attack in south Kashmirs Tral.
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The encounter near the LoC in Kalgai Uri, 110 from Srinagar, erupted when the Army spotted three militants late Saturday evening. A cordon was laid around a built-up area where the militants were hiding. A gunfight ensued at 2 am as searches were being carried out close to the Uri Kaman road. Many civilians were evacuated, said defence sources.
Three militants have been killed and three weapons recovered. The combing operation is underway, an officer said, adding that two civilians and a soldier had been injured too. The militants are yet to be identified.
Addressing the media in Srinagar, state police chief Shesh Paul Vaid said: They were planning a suicide attack on an Army base like the one last year. The police and the Army, acting on prior information, foiled their plan.
On September 18 last year, the Army base in Uri was attacked by four fidayeen of the Lashkar-e-Toiba. At least 19 soldiers were killed. In retaliation, the Indian Army launched surgical strikes on militant launch-pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). As per initial reports, the militants killed in Kalgai may have infiltrated on Friday night. They planned to target an artillery Army base in the vicinity of the village early Sunday morning, top sources said. Meanwhile, the forces have busted a militant hideout in Kupwara and recovered arms and a war-like store.
Chetan Chandak
Many people are not aware of a key component of their salary, which is gratuity. Therefore, many young salaried people often fail to benefit from it. On September 12, 2017, the Union Cabinet passed the Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill 2017 which seeks to raise the threshold of exemption available for employees of formal sector from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. This amendment can provide huge tax relief to formal sector employees. For all those young salaried individuals who are not aware of gratuity and its benefits, lets discuss what gratuity is.
Gratuity, just like PF, is one of the retirement benefits provided to employees by the employer. However, unlike PF, gratuity does not warrant contributions of employee but employer only. It is paid as a lump sum amount at the time of retirement. The provisions related to gratuity are covered under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 which allows gratuity payment to all the permanent employees who are working in any office which have at least 10 or more than 10 employees and includes factories, mines, oilfields, plantations, ports, railway companies, shops, etc.
However, there is one important condition which an employee must satisfy to be eligible to claim gratuity. An employee must serve an employer for period of minimum five years. However, there are certain cases where the employee does not need to satisfy this condition to claim gratuity.
If an employee has died or has developed a disability owing to accident or illness, gratuity can be claimed even if he did not serve his employer for five years. In case an employee dies, the amount of gratuity is paid to his nominee regardless of the tenure. Employees need to fill Form F to choose a nominee for gratuity. The amount of gratuity is paid to the nominee within 30 days from the date of being issued to the person entitled to it. In case there is any delay or default, the employer will have to pay interest on such amount.
Gratuity calculation
The following formula is used to calculate gratuity:
Gratuity = Last drawn salary (Basic + DA) 15/26 Number of years of service (rounded off to the full year)
Where 15/26 = 15 working days out of a total of 26 per month
In case it is proved that the employees service was terminated on the grounds of moral turpitude in the course of official business or any proven misconduct on the employees part, his gratuity amount can be forfeited by his employer.
Gratuity is not entirely tax free but a certain amount is exempted from tax. Earlier, in April 2010 such exempted amount was Rs 3.5 lakh, but then it was increased to Rs 10 lakh. According to this, despite having stashed an amount greater than Rs 10 lakhs as gratuity, the amount of tax-free withdrawal cannot exceed Rs 10 lakh after which the taxes are deducted from the remaining amount, and the amount that is (if) left after deduction of taxes is paid to you under the head income from salaries.
Tax exemption is calculated on the lowest amount from the following:
1. Upper limit of tax-free gratuity
2. Actual gratuity received
3. Gratuity calculated as per the formula: Gratuity = Last drawn salary (Basic + DA) 15/26 Number of years of service (rounded off to the full year)
The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017 aims at increasing this exempted amount up to Rs 20 lakh tax-free gratuity. This would effectively mean that only the gratuity amount exceeding Rs 20 lakh will be subject to taxes. As a result, employees will pocket a higher amount of gratuity. Let us understand how it will impact your earnings.
We need to make an assumption first. Lets say Mr Arindam received Rs 35 lakh as gratuity. His last drawn monthly salary was Rs 2.5 lakh and the average of his last 10 months salary is Rs 2.2 lakh. He has given his employer 22 years and 7 months of service. Now we can calculate his tax-free gratuity benefits under two scenarios:
1) Where the employee claims gratuity amount before the enhanced limit
2) Where the employee claims gratuity amount after the enhanced limit (see box above)
So, as you can see from the calculation, the increase in exemption limit can result in huge tax savings. Several young individuals are busy hopping jobs in their initial years of service which results in loss of gratuity benefits. In the long run, these benefits can accrue to offer you a huge sum of money.
The writer is Head of Tax research, H&R Block India. The views expressed in this article are his own
Making strides
With the adoption of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the worlds countries aim to end poverty by 2030.
Parvesh Sharma
Tribune News Service
Sangrur, September 24
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today said his party would win the Gurdaspur byelection with a huge margin as all Congress leaders are working hard for the victory of party candidate Sunil Jakhar.
Our campaigning is going on very well and we will win the election. People know that our party has been working for the welfare of the state since the first day of the formation of our government, said the CM at Chulad Kalan village of the district. He had gone there to attend the bhog of a path organised by his relatives in memory of his mother Rajmata Mohinder Kaur.
About the death of a farmer during the ongoing protest in Patiala yesterday, Amarinder said it was unfortunate that another farmer of the state had lost his life. He claimed that his government had been making the best efforts for the welfare of the farmers.
We have announced a waiver of Rs 2 lakh for 10.25 lakh farmers of the state. Other states have announced a waiver of just Rs 50,000. Our party understands the problems of farmers and we have started giving them relief immediately. In future also, we will leave no stone unturned to help the farming community. We are, however, not in a position to give more immediate relief, he said.
About the brutal murders of senior journalist KJ Singh and his mother in Mohali yesterday, the CM said a special investigation team was probing the case. The accused will be arrested soon, he added.
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 24
Former MLA Virsa Singh Valtoha tops the list of Akali leaders against whom complaints of political vendetta have been received by the Justice Mehtab Singh Gill (retd) Commission of Inquiry, which is probing false police cases registered during the 10-year SAD-BJP rule.
There are 82 complaints against Valtoha, known for his fiery speeches in the Assembly. Of these, 42 complainants have specifically named the former Khemkaran legislator for misusing the police for political ends. One of them is a Bhikhiwind-based worker of the BJP, alliance partner of the Akalis.
Former minister Bikram Singh Majithia, against whom 40 Congress MLAs had shot off letters to party president Sonia Gandhi seeking action for abuse of power is fifth on the list. These MLAs have even accused CM Capt Amarinder Singh of going soft on Majithia. The Akali leader has not been named by any complainant, but there is an allusion to him in 22 complaints from Majitha.
Sucha Singh Langah, ex-MLA from Dera Baba Nanak, is placed second. Of the 44 complaints against him, he is named in eight and indirectly referred to in the rest.
There are 42 complaints against former Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon. He has been named in four. Thirty-six of the complaints have been made by AAP workers, alleging frame-up due to political pressure by the area leader.
Former Rural Development Minister Sikander Singh Maluka is linked to 36 complaints, but only one complainant, Congress MLA Gurpreet Kangar, has mentioned his name.
The commission has already decided the case in favour of Kangar. Maluka had accused the Congress leader of opening fire at him, his son and supporters near the venue of an election rally. The commission ruled that the complaint was false and should be cancelled.
The commission is yet to summon any politician accused of vendetta.
Akali Dal spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said the commissions constitution and actions were a political drama. The commission seems to be trying to justify Capt Amarinders claims made during the elections about the allegedly poor law and order situation during our rule. They talked of thousands of cases, but despite having a panel set up by themselves, the number is only in dozens. He said such a panel should have been headed by a sitting judge.
Aman Sood
Tribune News Service
Patiala, September 24
The third day of the protest at Mehamdpur village grain market, on the outskirts of the city, saw a large turnout of farmers.
While addressing protesters, farmer leaders said in the absence of any viable alternative, they would continue to burn stubble. The unions vowed to stand by farmers if they were troubled by the authorities for violating the ban on stubble burning. The leaders warned that the government would have to face a tough time if the farmers were penalised.
Farmer leader Kanwalpreet Singh said: The little stubble left after paddy is harvested never gets dissolved in the soil even after repeated ploughing and use of rotavator. The straw hampers the growth of plant and our next crop yield gets affected. We thus have no choice but to burn the fields. The government should pay us Rs 6,000 per acre to use extra labour to remove straw manually.
The leaders also alleged that the governments in the state and at the Centre never tried to get firsthand report from families whose kin had committed suicide due to debt.
The government needs to see the condition of the families of farmers who have committed suicide. Their sons and daughters are struggling, their wives are working as maids. Many have lost shelter to the banks and arhtiyas, said Harmesh Singh of Kirti Kisan Union. We demand a complete debt waiver for all farmers, he said.
The farmer leaders said the last two days of the protest on September 26 and 27 would see thousands of farmers pouring in from across the state. They alleged that the government was trying hard to scuttle their protest and their repeated pleas for a peaceful protest in Patiala were turned down.
Patiala Deputy Commissioner Kumar Amit said owing to the festival rush of Navratras, the administration had to first ensure the safety of the city residents. A decision on the farmers plea to allow a protest march in the city is yet to be taken, he said.
Debt-ridden farmer, labourer end life
Fatehgarh Sahib: A 28-year-old farmer, Jagwinder Singh, committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance at Bhatedi village in Bassi Pathana block of this district. His brother Nirmal Singh said Jagwinder had taken Rs 5 lakh loan from banks and arhtiyas. Two days ago, Jagwinder went to his field in the morning and returned home after consuming some poisonous substance there. When he started vomiting, he was rushed to a hospital in Morinda from where doctors referred him to the PGI, Chandigarh. He died at PGI on Sunday. In another incident in the same village, a 47-year-old physically challenged man Dara Singh ended his life by consuming sulphas tablets as he was not getting any work. His daughter Pinki said her father had also taken a loan. TNS
Washington DC
A recent study has linked dogs' social skills to genetic variations in sensitivity for the hormone oxytocin.
The study from Linkoping University, Sweden contributes to our knowledge of how dogs have changed during their development from wolf to household pet.
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During their domestication from their wild ancestor the wolf to the pets we have today, dogs have developed a unique ability to work together with humans. One aspect of this is their willingness to "ask for help" when faced with a problem that seems to be too difficult. There are, however, large differences between breeds, and between dogs of the same breed.
The team, led by Per Jensen, discovered a possible explanation of why dogs differ in their willingness to collaborate with humans.
The researchers suspected that the hormone oxytocin was involved. It is well-known that oxytocin plays a role in social relationships between individuals, in both humans and animals. The effect of oxytocin depends on the function of the structure that it binds to, the receptor, in the cell. The researchers in the present study examined 60 golden retrievers as they attempted to solve an insoluble problem.
"The first step was to teach the dogs to open a lid, and in this way get hold of a treat. After this, they were given the same task with the lid firmly fixed in place, and thus impossible to open. We timed the dogs to see how long they attempted on their own, before turning to their owner and asking for help," said principal author Persson.
Before the behavioural test, the researchers increased the levels of oxytocin in the dogs' blood by spraying the hormone into their nose. As a control, the dogs carried out the same test after having received a spray of neutral salt water in the same way. The researchers also collected DNA using a cotton swab inside the dogs' cheek, and determined which variant of the gene for the oxytocin receptor that each dog had.
The results showed that dogs with a particular genetic variant of the receptor reacted more strongly to the oxytocin spray than other dogs. The tendency to approach their owner for help increased when they received oxytocin in their nose, compared with when they received the neutral salt water solution. The researchers suggest that these results help us understand how dogs have changed during the process of domestication. They analysed DNA also from 21 wolves, and found the same genetic variation among them. This suggests that the genetic variation was already present when domestication of the dogs started, 15,000 years ago.
"The results lead us to surmise that people selected for domestication wolves with a particularly well-developed ability to collaborate, and then bred subsequent generations from these," noted Mia Persson.
The study is published in the scientific journal Hormones and Behavior. ANI
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, September 24
President Ramnath Kovind today paid obeisance at the Kedarnath and Badrinath shrine and offered worship on the second day of his two-day visit to Uttarakhand.
President, along with his family members, flew in an Army MI 17 helicopter for Kedarnath from Dehradun. The helicopter landed at the Kedarnath helipad at 7.56 am following which President and his family were taken in an all-terrain vehicle up to the temple premises.
Accompanied by Governor KK Paul and Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat, the President along with his family spent nearly 20 minutes inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple and performed the Rudrabhishek worship. Kedarnath temple priests handed over the traditional Rot and Arsey prasada to the President.
From Kedarnath, President flew to Gauchar helipad and from Gauchar helipad subsequently took off for Badrinath temple, where he reached at 11.15 am. At Badrinath Dham, Kovind performed the special puja. He also interacted with temple priests following which he left for Dehradun
The President had come on a two-day visit to Uttarakhand. Yesterday he visited the holy city of Haridwar, where he performed Ganga 'pujan'. This was followed by a visit to Divya Prem Sewa Mission at Chandighat.
Tribune News Service
Dehradun,September 24
Tweets from a fake twitter account of former Chief Minister and Pauri Garhwal MP BC Khanduri allegedly conveying his dismay with the present day politics has created a storm in the BJP political circles.
Though today morning the Dehradun Police registered a case under the IT Act , after his daughter Ritu Khanduri, an MLA from Yamkeshwar, lodged a complaint, his tweets have given rise to speculations the former Chief Minister is feeling left out in the hurly burly of politics.
In one of the tweets Khanduri has compared politics with Hindi films as though expressing his dismay with the present political scenario and his own position in the BJP.
In another tweet he is allegedly seen conveying that the party may or may not give him respect but he was more than satisfied with the love and affection that the people of the state continue to shower on him. In one of the tweets there is also a mention about his mentor and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his immense respect for him.
Significantly, during the two-day visit of BJP president Amit Shah, Khanduri continued to maintain a low key presence.
Earlier, BC Khanduri, in a statement, had said that he did not maintain any twitter account.
San Juan (Puerto Rico), September 24
Puerto Ricos governor met mayors from around the ravaged island on Saturday after surveying damage to an earthen dam in the northwestern part of the US territory that was threatening to collapse from flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Some 70,000 people who live downstream from the compromised dam, which has formed a lake on the rain-swollen Guajataca River, were under orders to evacuate, with the structure in danger of bursting at any time.
We saw directly the damage to the Guajataca dam, Governor Ricardo Rossello said in a Spanish-language Twitter message on Saturday while reinforcing his request that people leave the area as soon as possible.
The fissure has become a significant rupture, Rossello said separately at a news conference on Saturday.
The US National Weather Service said on its website the dam was still in danger of failing and triggering life-threatening flash floods.
Stay away or be swept away, it warned.
Meanwhile, people across the island were struggling to dig out from the devastation left by the storm, which killed at least 25 people, including at least 10 in Puerto Rico, as it churned across the Caribbean, according to officials and media reports.
To all Puerto Ricans, please know we will get back up, the governor tweeted as he met mayors in the territory to identify their most urgent needs. Together with the mayors, as one government.4Puerto Rico
In a development that could help the recovery effort, the Port of San Juan reopened, according to a Twitter message from the agency that operates it, allowing ships to unload supplies.
Severe flooding, structural damage to homes and virtually no electric power were three of the most pressing problems facing Puerto Ricans, said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo during a tour of the island.
Its a terrible immediate situation that requires assistance from the federal government - not just financial assistance, said Cuomo, whose state is home to millions of people of Puerto Rican descent.
It is a dangerous situation today and its going to be a long-term reconstruction issue for months, Cuomo, a Democrat and potential 2020 presidential candidate, told CNN.
Path of destruction
Maria, the second major hurricane to savage the Caribbean this month and the most powerful storm to strike Puerto Rico in nearly a century, carved a path of destruction on Wednesday. It knocked out electricity, apart from emergency generators, on the island of 3.4 million inhabitants.
Near the rain-swollen Guajataca River, in the northwest part of the island, floodwater littered with branches and debris engulfed the first floor of a number of homes and swamped vehicles that were left behind.
We lost our house, it was completely flooded, said resident Carmen Gloria Lamb. We lost everything, cars, clothes, everything.
The storm has resulted in 10 confirmed fatalities on the island so far, Rossellos office told CNN on Saturday. The governors office could not be reached for comment by Reuters.
Signs of the strain on Puerto Ricans were evident throughout San Juan, the capital.
Drivers had to wait up to seven hours at the few filling stations open on Saturday, according to news reports, and lines of cars snaked for blocks. Hotels warned that guests might have to leave soon without fresh supplies of diesel to keep generators operating.
Water rationing also began on Saturday. Signs posted throughout San Juans Old Town informed residents that service would return for two hours each day, between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., until further notice.
Telephone service was also unreliable, with many of the islands cell towers damaged or destroyed.
People swarmed under some of the towers, holding up their devices in the hopes of getting a signal.
The governor also extended a nightly curfew on Saturday, the Caribbean Business newspaper reported.
At San Juans Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, Mary Ann Arciola, her 32-year-old daughter and two young grandchildren slept in a rented van hoping to get a flight home to the United States.
Theres nobody at the desks. Theres nothing on the screens, said Arciola, 62. Theres a ton of people. They are starting to fight. Its not good.
Debt crisis
Maria struck Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale as the island was already facing the largest municipal debt crisis in US history.
The storm may have caused an estimated $45 billion in damage and lost economic activity across the Caribbean, with at least $30 billion of that in Puerto Rico, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research in Savannah, Georgia.
Elsewhere in the Caribbean, 14 deaths were reported on Dominica, an island nation of 71,000 inhabitants.
Two people were killed in the French territory of Guadeloupe and one in the US Virgin Islands. Two people died in the Dominican Republic on Thursday, according to media outlet El Jaya.
Maria still had sustained winds of up to 115 miles per hour (185 km per hour) on Saturday, making it a Category 3 hurricane, but was expected to weaken gradually over the next two days as it turned more sharply to the north.
Dangerous surf and rip currents driven by the storm were expected along the southeastern coast of the US mainland for several days, the National Hurricane Center said.
Maria hit about two weeks after Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean and the United States. It followed Hurricane Harvey, which also killed more than 80 people when it struck Texas in late August and caused flooding in Houston. Reuters
Moscow, September 24
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that the US would not carry out a strike on North Korea because it knows Pyongyang has nuclear bombs.
"The Americans won't carry out a strike on (North) Korea because it's not that they suspect, they know for sure that it has nuclear bombs," Lavrov said in an interview with Russia's NTV television aired today.
"I'm not defending North Korea, I'm just saying that almost everyone agrees with such an analysis," the Russian diplomat said.
North Korea this month carried out an underground test on a hydrogen bomb estimated to be 16 times the size of the US bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945. It was its sixth and largest nuclear test.
Lavrov said the crisis could only be resolved with a softer approach.
"Only with caresses, suggestion and persuasion," Lavrov said, when asked how.
He warned that if US did not take the same approach, "we could drop into a very unpredictable nosedive and tens if not hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens of South Korea but also North Korea, of course, and Japan will suffer and Russia and China are nearby".
The interview aired after President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was "deeply concerned" at the escalation of tensions.
Peskov also criticised what he called "an exchange of rather rude statements replete with threats".
Lavrov at the United Nations on Friday described the rhetoric between leaders of the US and North Korea as a "kindergarten fight between children" and urged calm.
In his first address to the world gathering on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump threatened to "totally destroy North Korea."
North Korean leader Kim Yong-un shot back at Trump, warning he would pay dearly for his threat. AFP
United Nations, September 24
Muhajirs from Pakistan held a peaceful demonstration in front of the UN headquarters here against the alleged human rights violations in the country.
Displaying placards and banners calling the Pakistan Army generals war criminals, the protesters shouted anti-Pakistan slogans.
The protest was organised by the US wing of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). The protestors claimed that thousands of innocent people of their community have been killed in Pakistan over the last three decades and several thousands have been held under illegal captivity without a trial.
Joining the protestors from London over phone, MQM leader Altaf Hussain urged the UN secretary general to come forward and help Muhajirs and Balochs who are suffering in Pakistan.
MQM mainly represents Urdu speaking ethnic Muhajirs, who migrated to Pakistan from India during 1947s partition.
The MQM emerged as a largely ethnic party in the 1980s.
It has political dominance in the southern Sindh provinces urban areas - notably in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur where a large number of urdu-speaking people reside. PTI
United Nations, September 24
In a major goof-up, Pakistans Permanent Representative to the UN Maleeha Lodhi on Sunday flashed a picture of an injured Gaza girl with no connection to India while alleging she was a victim of pellet guns in Kashmir.
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Exercising her right to reply hours after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj blasted Pakistan for its support to terrorism, Lodhi, on the floor of the UN General Assembly, held up a photograph of a woman whose face was peppered with alleged pellet gun wounds.
This is the face of Indian democracy, Lodhi claimed.
The picture of 17-year-old Rawya abu Joma'a of Gaza, an alleged victim of an Israeli attack was actually taken by award-winning American photo journalist Heidi Levine in July, 2014.
The picture is available on multiple news websites.
Read: India is mother of terrorism in South Asia: Pak responds to Swarajs UN speech
Rawya abu Joma'a, 17, at the Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Rawya was wounded when two Israeli air strikes hit her family's apartment. Three of her cousins and her sister were killed in the strike, says the caption of the photo on the website of the UK's Guardian newspaper.
Quite evidently, the picture has no connection with Kashmir.
Lodhi, who is quite active on social media, including on Twitter, was silent after it emerged that she posed a fake picture during her right of reply at the UN General Assembly.
The Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN also did not immediately respond to a PTI query on Lodhi's apparent use of such a picture. PTI
Melamchi water will reach Kathmandu Valley in six months
The Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee has stated that it will be able to supply drinking water to the consumers in the Kathmandu Valley within six months.
Seoul/United Nations, September 24
US President Donald Trump dialled up the rhetoric against North Korea again at the weekend, warning the countrys foreign minister that he and leader Kim Jong Un wont be around much longer, as Pyongyang staged a major anti-US rally.
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North Koreas Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday that targeting the US mainland with its rockets was inevitable after Mr Evil President Trump called Pyongyangs leader a rocket man on a suicide mission.
Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they wont be around much longer! Trump said on Twitter late on Saturday.
Trump and Kim have traded increasingly threatening and personal insults as Pyongyang races towards its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States - something Trump has vowed to prevent.
Analysts say the escalation in rhetoric is increasing the risk of a miscalculation by one side or the other that could have massive repercussions.
North Koreas state-run television KRT aired a video on Sunday showing tens of thousands of people attending an anti-U.S. rally at Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang.
The Norths official KCNA news agency said more than 1,00,000 people gathered for the rally on Saturday and delivered speeches supporting comments made by Kim earlier in the week.
We are waiting for the right time to have a final battle with the US, the evil empire, and to remove the US from the world, KCNA quoted Ri Il-bae, a commanding officer of the Red Guards, as saying. Once respected Supreme commander Kim Jong Un gives an order, we will annihilate the group of aggressors.
Unprecedented
In an unprecedented direct statement on Friday, Kim described Trump as a mentally deranged US dotard whom he would tame with fire.
Kim said the North would consider the highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history against the United States and that Trumps comments had confirmed his nuclear programme was the correct path.
Kims comments came after Trump threatened in his maiden UN address on Thursday to totally destroy the country of 26 million people.
It was not clear from Trumps latest tweet if he was referring to Ri and Kim, or North Korea more broadly.
North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb test on Sept. 3, prompting another round of UN sanctions.
Pyongyang said on Friday it might test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.
It is only a forlorn hope to consider any chance that the DPRK (North Korea) would be shaken an inch or change its stance due to the harsher sanctions by the hostile forces, Ri told the UN General Assembly on Saturday.
US bombers fly close to North Koreas coast
US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers escorted by fighters flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea on Saturday in a show of force the Pentagon said indicated the range of military options available to Trump.
The US bombers flight was the farthest north of the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea that any US fighter jet or bomber had flown in the 21st century, the Pentagon said.
The patrols came after officials and experts said a small earthquake near North Koreas nuclear test site on Saturday was probably not man-made, easing fears Pyongyang had exploded another nuclear bomb just weeks after its previous one.
The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce and not a peace treaty.
The North accuses the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, of planning to invade and regularly threatens to destroy it and its Asian allies. Reuters
Washington, September 24
President Donald Trump is expected to announce new restrictions on travel to the United States as his ban on visitors from six Muslim-majority countries expires today, 90 days after it went into effect.
The Department of Homeland Security has recommended the president sign off on new, more targeted restrictions on foreign nationals from countries it says refuse to share information with the US or havent taken necessary security precautions.
Officials havent said which or how many countries will be affected by the new restrictions, which could take effect as soon as today.
The acting secretary has recommended actions that are tough and that are tailored, including restrictions and enhanced screening for certain countries, said Miles Taylor, counselor to acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke.
The current ban bars citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who lack a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States from entering the US.
Unlike Trumps first travel ban, which sparked chaos at airports across the country and a flurry of legal challenges, officials said they have been working for months on the new rules, in collaboration with various agencies and in conversation with foreign governments.
The recommendations are based on a new baseline developed by DHS that includes factors such as whether countries issue electronic passports with biometric information and share information about travelers terror-related and criminal histories.
The US then shared those benchmarks with every country in the world and gave them 50 days to comply.
The citizens of countries that refused could now face travel restrictions and more stringent screening measures that would last indefinitely, until their governments complied.
Trump last week called for a tougher travel ban after a bomb partially exploded on a London subway.
The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct! he tweeted.
Critics have accused the president of overstepping his authority and violating the US Constitutions protections against religious bias.
Trump had called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States during his campaign. AP
Endurant was designed, engineered and created from a clean sheet to be an automated transmission, not simply an update to an AMT, explained Gerard DeVito, vice president, Technology, Eaton Vehicle Group. Photo: Evan Lockridge
ATLANTA Eaton Cummins Automated Transmission Technologies unveiled the first product from its joint venture, a lightweight, efficient automated transmission, at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show.
Company officials said the new Endurant 12-speed automated transmission is the lightest, most efficient 1,850 lb.-ft.-capable heavy-duty transmission. Designed for linehaul applications, it weighs up to 105 pounds less than competitive automated manual transmissions (AMTs).
Fleets will find that Endurant has been intelligently engineered from the ground up with features that protect your investment and make it easy to maintain, said Scott Davis, general manager, Eaton Cummins Automated Transmission Technologies. With a sophisticated communication system between the engine and transmission software, Endurant promises to deliver industry-best performance and reliability, fuel efficiency, reduced maintenance, and driver comfort features.
Company officials stressed that Endurant is not an automated version of a manual transmission Endurant was designed, engineered and created from a clean sheet to be an automated transmission, not simply an update to an AMT, allowing us to optimize the transmissions weight, dimensions and features, explained Gerard DeVito, vice president, Technology, Eaton Vehicle Group.
The market demands have changed, and automated transmissions really are the future, theyre what our customers are asking, what drivers are asking for, said Jeff Bosscher, systems engineering manager, Endurant.
The Endurant shares many of the features of the new Paccar Automated Transmission, which was designed by Eaton to work with Paccar powertrains.
An extensive component and complete vehicle testing program put Endurant through extreme conditions at the Eaton Proving Grounds in Marshall, Michigan, as well as in the high heat of Death Valley, California, and minus 40-degree temperatures in northern Minnesota more than 2 million equivalent field test miles in all, they said.
The joint venture got customer input throughout the process, not just from fleets, but from drivers, technicians, and others as well.
Company officials said the new Endurant 12-speed automated transmission is the lightest, most efficient 1,850 lb.-ft.-capable heavy-duty transmission. Photo: Evan Lockridge
Features include:
Internal electrical system routing that minimizes exposure and corrosion to wires and connectors for improved reliability;
A new smart prognostics feature provides clutch replacement notification to better plan maintenance scheduling;
An industry-exclusive transmission fluid pressure sensor notifies drivers of low oil levels to provide burn-up warranty coverage;
Smooth and intuitive shift strategies that enhance the operators driving experience;
Predictive shifting using look-ahead technology to execute shift decisions that improve fuel efficiency and provide additional driver comfort;
A standard, 8-bolt PTO opening that improves future resale value.All-aluminum exterior
Production will begin Oct. 16. Endurant will be paired with the Cummins X15 Efficiency Series engine and will be available in the Kenworth T680 and the Peterbilt Model 579.
With the lowest cruise rpm among competitive automated transmissions and the best overall ratios, Endurant is ideally engineered to fully support the growing move to downspeeding to help save fuel, added DeVito. Among linehaul transmissions, Endurant has the deepest reverse ratio in the industry for slow speed maneuvering.
Features designed to improve maintenance include:
750,000-mile lube change intervals for linehaul applications, which company officials say is the industrys longest and 250,000 to 450,000 miles longer than competitive models
A maintenance-free 430mm self-adjust clutch that requires no grease;
Endurant requires only 16 pints of oil, about half the amount of competitive models;
A replaceable input shaft sleeve allows for affordable and quick repair, while competitive transmissions require a costly and time-consuming full teardown.
In addition, innovations such as a transmission fluid pressure sensor and clutch life prognostics maximize uptime.
Like all automated transmissions from the Eaton Cummins joint venture, Endurant is available with IntelliConnect, a telematics capable system that provides near real-time monitoring of vehicle fault codes, prioritizes the critical events, and provides accurate and comprehensive action plans by technical experts at Eaton.
The standard Endurant transmission warranty is 5-year/750,000 miles for linehaul commercial vehicles, and 3-year/350,000 miles for the clutch. One-year and two-year extended protection plans are also available. Endurants maximum operating weight (GCVW) is 110,000 lbs. (49,895 kg); maximum horsepower is 510 hp, and oil capacity is 16 pints (7.5L).
More info: www.eatoncumminsjv.com/endurant
PM Deuba addresses UNGA, says global challenges reinforce role and responsibility of UN
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that the global community faces a more complex and polarised environment with multiple transnational challenges ranging from terrorism, climate change, energy deficiency, food insecurity and mass migration to extremism.
ATLANTA Thermo King is unveiling its new all-electric TriPac Envidia auxiliary power unit, which it claims has the longest run-time in the industry, at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show in Atlanta this week.
Thermo King says Envidia is an environmentally clean, reliable APU that delivers the longest run-time in the industry, without tractor startup.
Historically, battery-powered APUs provided insufficient run-time and limited power, with fleets and drivers complaining they do dont provide enough cooling for drivers full rest periods, especially in hot climates.
Because there is no diesel engine, the TriPac Envidia not only runs clean, but it is significantly quieter and requires minimal maintenance.
The introduction of this emission-free technology is a significant milestone for Thermo King, and it reaffirms our commitment to sustainability through innovation, said Dane Taival, vice president and general manager, Thermo King North America.
The units simple in-cab controller allows drivers to select the desired function of the system cool, fan or heat modes. The controller also indicates the battery charge level, and allows drivers to adjust the fan speed and cab temperature.
The Envidas patented battery management technology also provides:
Individual charging and discharging management for each battery
Three-stage charging profile to optimize performance and extend the life of its NXT dry cell technology battery
Full discharge of the auxiliary power-pack batteries before switchover, to minimize depletion of tractor batteries during HVAC operation
Whether supplementing with solar, or using power options like battery or shore power, the TriPac Envidia offers choices for drivers to tap into the power they need to stay charged.
The TriPac Envidia by Thermo King meets anti-idle and anti-emission regulations nationwide, including California Air Resources Board (CARB) requirements. The all-electric APU will be available for purchase in early 2018.
FARGO An Ellis County deputy was wounded after being shot while checking on a resident Saturday afternoon.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Chief Ricky Adams said the deputy, whose name has not been released, was shot in the leg.
According to the Woodward News, the deputy was responding to a welfare check request at a home northwest of Fargo when he was shot.
The shooter, who has not been identified, barricaded himself inside the home. The deputy was taken to a hospital, treated for his injuries and released.
Read more of this story online at NewsOk.com. A subscription may be required.
OKLAHOMA CITY A former Tulsa priest moved closer to being canonized as a Roman Catholic saint Saturday morning.
Thousands of Catholics from across the state and beyond packed Oklahoma Citys Cox Convention Center to witness the beatification of Father Stanley Rother, who was murdered while serving in a poor parish in Guatemala.
Rother is the first U.S.-born priest to be beatified.
Traffic was snarled as worshippers filled the nearly 16,000-seat arena to capacity. Some people could not get in and had to watch from overflow rooms.
This is a very big deal for us, said Diocese of Tulsa Bishop David Konderla, who was among 52 bishops and 288 priests at the ceremony.
At one point, Konderla was invited onto the platform to greet Cardinal Angelo Amato, representing the Vatican as Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome, who presided over the elaborate ceremony.
Other Diocese of Tulsa bishops at the event were Bishop Emeritus Edward Slattery, recently retired, and Bishop Peter Wells, Apostolic Nuncio to South Africa.
Its a once-in-a-lifetime experience, said Monsignor Patrick Gaalaas, pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church in Tulsa, who brought a large contingency of people from his church on buses.
I dont suppose Ill ever attend another ceremony for beatification. Im just blessed to be a part of it, he said.
Last December, Rother was named the Catholic Churchs first American-born martyr, paving the way for Saturdays beatification, the final step before sainthood.
If he is recognized as a canonized saint, a process that can take years, Rother would be the first American priest to be so honored.
Part of the process will be the verification that a miracle has taken place as a result of asking for Rothers intercession.
One member of his family who was at the ceremony is confident that such a miracle will be found.
Michelle Acuff, of Okarche, a first cousin of Rother, said she experienced a miracle as the result of asking him to intercede for her.
I was very sick. I had a 2 percent chance of living, she said as she sat in the crowded arena and waited for the ceremony to begin.
I had toxic shock, and it went septic. Thats where I lost all my fingers.
My family started praying for Father Rother to intercede, and overnight, I got better, she said.
Rother was raised on an Okarche farm, ordained a priest in 1963 and served parishes in Durant, Tulsa and Oklahoma City before going to Guatemala in 1968.
For 13 years he served a poor community of largely Mayan descendents at the mission of Santiago Atitlan.
At the heart of the ceremony, Cardinal Amato read the Apostolic Letter in Latin from Pope Francis declaring that Rother, who was driven by a deeply-rooted faith and a profound union with God, henceforth should be called blessed.
And the letter established that July 28, the day of his heavenly birth, will be his feast day.
Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City read the English translation of the popes letter.
In his message to the assembly, Amato said that Rothers beatification is a historic event for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and for the Catholic Church in America.
He said Rother is one of 78 people the Catholic Church considered martyrs of the faith.
Rother came from a family of farmers, and knew about the hard work of tilling the land, Amato said.
He began programs of both religious instruction and social formation, and devoted himself to learning and speaking the language of his parishioners, preaching in their language, and helping translate the Bible into it.
His love for the needy and the (marginalized) was great, Amato said.
From 1971 to 1981 in Guatemala, many journalists, farmers and priests, falsely accused of communism, were killed, he said.
This was a true time of bloody persecution for the church.
Father Rother, aware of the imminent danger to his life, prepared himself for martyrdom, asking the Lord for the strength to face it without fear, Amato said.
Early in the morning of July 28, 1981, a day he was scheduled to give blood to a patient who needed an operation, three masked men entered his bedroom and shot him to death.
He was a man of noble heart. He did not spare himself, Amato said.
PM urges UN to increase Nepali quota for high-level posts in UN missions
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has made an official request with the United Nations to increase the Nepali participation in higher ranks of UN peacekeeping operations based on the number of Nepal Army deployed in the UN missions.
Everyone is tired of the term fake news.
Our readers tell us daily that they want just the facts in our news pages. They want us to provide the facts so that they can determine for themselves what to think about todays political and social issues. Opinions and a writers point of view should be reserved for those pages that are clearly labeled Opinion or Editorial.
We agree.
With that in mind, we are excited and fortunate to be part of a project with the Pulitzer Prize-winning editors and reporters from PolitiFact. The independent fact-checking organization, which is affiliated with the Tampa Bay Times, works to present nonpartisan, objective information.
The PolitiFact project, funded by the Knight Foundation, will have Tulsa World reporters and editors working with PolitiFact counterparts on fact-checking claims made by state and local politicians, pundits and organizations. It also will allow the Tulsa World to access other information and content being produced by PolitiFact.
The Tulsa World is one of three news organizations included in the project. Also working with PolitiFact will be the Mobile Press Register and Al.com in Mobile, Alabama. The third is yet to be named.
Editors from PolitiFact will be in Tulsa on Wednesday for a free, public meeting at the Tulsa Central Library to explain their project and answer questions. It will run from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
For the last 10 years, PolitiFact has been rating claims by politicians and pundits on a scale from True to Pants on Fire false. You have the opportunity to meet the staff and learn more about PolitiFact and get tips on how to fact-check claims yourself.
Why Tulsa?
One reason may be Oklahomas overwhelming voter support for President Donald Trump.
Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFacts executive director, says that despite his organizations work to provide nonpartisan, objective information, many audiences see fact-checking outlets like his as biased. In fact, he says, in a September 2016 poll from Rasmussen Reports, 88 percent of voters who supported Donald Trump did not trust media fact-checking of candidates statements.
PolitiFact seeks to better understand why certain audiences perceive fact-checkers as biased and to engage with new audiences to help improve the overall perception of fact-checking, Sharockman said. We reached out to the Knight Foundation looking for ways to build trust in fact-checking and PolitiFact, particularly among more conservative audiences.
We think this partnership is an excellent test of something we believe to be true: that if we spend more time working directly in communities explaining our mission, people over time will grow to trust us.
So for at least the next eight months, the World will partner with PolitiFact in fact-checking political claims. It will be a time rife with opportunity as campaigns for numerous local and state offices kick off this fall and into the new year for the 2018 elections.
Immediately, I invite you to come meet Sharockman and his colleagues Associate Editor Amy Hollyfield and staff writer Jon Greenberg on Wednesday evening.
We want to hear from as many people as possible about what they think of fact-checking in general and PolitiFact in particular, Sharockman said. The entire point of our visit is to see if there are ways we can gain trust among readers and to see if there are ways we can be more transparent in our reporting process.
And, he adds, he wants to know what they can do to be a better organization.
Tulsans have never been shy about expressing their opinions. Dont start now. Help the Tulsa World and PolitiFact give you the facts you want to make informed decisions as we head into another political election cycle.
A partially submerged vehicle found late Monday night in the Verdigris River was reported stolen out of Tabor City, N.C. after a homicide.
Wagoner County Sheriffs Office Deputy Nick Mahoney said the unoccupied 2002 silver Toyota was found in the area of 113th Street and 369th E. Ave.
According to Mahoney, a homicide occurred in Tabor City on Saturday, Sept. 16. William Matthew Fortney and Amber Nichole Hitchcock are persons of interest and wanted for questioning. Both individuals were believed to be traveling to Oklahoma in the Toyota.
Fortney and Hitchcock both have ties to the Coweta and Broken Arrow areas and have extensive criminal histories.
Mahoney said after recovering the vehicle, it was stored by the WCSO. At the request of authorities in North Carolina, WCSO investigators Elliott and Kelley wrote and executed a search warrant on the vehicle.
Evidence was recovered and passed along to authorities in North Carolina.
Mahoney said Amanda Hitchcock currently has outstanding felony warrants in Wagoner County.
The Wagoner County Sheriffs Office did not have a role in the apprehension of either Fortney or Hitchcock as they were arrested in Tulsa, Mahoney said. A hold has been placed on Hitchcock for her outstanding warrants in our county.
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As diplomats congregate for the United Nations General Assembly, delegations from some of the poorest countries in the world are spending extravagantly in New York City while their homelands struggle, NBC 4 New York's I-Team has discovered.
The lavish spending is just endemic of autocratic politics as a whole, said Alastair Smith, a politics professor from New York University and co-author of The Diplomats Handbook.
He believes the U.N.s Manhattan address has become a distraction from the intended work of the General Assembly.
They are here for the shopping, the food the wine, the dining. If it was in a less attractive place, I'm sure fewer people would want to come as hangers-on, said Smith.
On Monday, I-Team cameras found several visitors with the U.N. delegation from Swaziland walking out of high-end retailer Bergdorf Goodman. The women had Bergdorf Goodman shopping bags, though they said the items inside were just gifts.
According to U.N. data, nearly 70 percent of Swazi people survive on less than $2 a day. The nation has one of the highest AIDS rates: 18 percent of the population is HIV positive.
Despite those struggles back home, numerous members of the Swaziland U.N. entourage are staying at the luxury Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the I-Team has learned.
Also staying at the Mandarin Oriental were members of the delegation from Togo. According to one U.N. report, 2.4 million Togolese citizens live on less than $1.25 a day.
Diplomats from Gabon were staying at the Plaza Hotel, where rooms go for a $1,000 to $15,000 a night.
Nigerias delegation is keeping five vehicles parked outside the Pierre Hotel where the cheapest room is about $800 a night or roughly what most Nigerians earn in two years.
At the Waldorf-Astoria, where rooms are between $800 and $9,000 a night, the I-Team found the delegation from Mali, a country where 4.6 million people are battling starvation. A recent U.N. report found Mali is the third poorest nation in the world with a poverty rate near 87 percent.
To be fair, not every poor nation spent so much for hotel accommodations: Members of the Tanzania delegation were found staying at a DoubleTree hotel in Midtown.
Although it may be unseemly for diplomats from poor countries to live ostentatiously during their stays in Manhattan, advocates for business point out there is an undeniable upside to much of the diplomatic extravagance the boon for New York Citys local economy.
"I don't think it is really up to us to moderate the type of spending that comes from other countries. That's their business, said Nancy Ploeger, president of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. What I'm concerned with is the economic impact on this city. I like the money. I want the money!"
None of the permanent missions to the UN from Togo, Swaziland, Gabon, Mali or Nigeria returned calls or emails relating to this story.
Nonprofits that monitor developing nations are also becoming increasingly sensitive to the issue of third world rulers spending lavishly abroad.
The group 100 Reporters is actually holding a contest asking New Yorkers to snap photos of UN diplomats spending ostentatiously.
By one estimate, the ruling classes of third-world nations divert as much as $1 trillion from their developing economies to spend and invest the funds in the U.S. and other Western nations.
The real underlying motivation for the movement of so much money out of developing countries is the hidden accumulation of wealth, said Raymond Baker, executive director of Global Financial Integrity, a nonprofit watchdog that monitors capital flows into and out of impoverished countries.
This is about getting rich secretly and not having to distribute those funds locally, Baker
Source:UN Delegates Live Large in NY While Their People Starve
Sajha Prakashan chief Sharma sacked
Ministry of Education on Sunday suspended Sajha Prakashan Chairman and General Manager Dolendra Prasad Sharma.
Clutching an empty rice sack, Rohingya mother-of-seven Sara Khatun says she has nothing left to feed her children.
After three weeks sleeping under a thin plastic sheet held up by bamboo poles, her son and daughter, aged about eight and 10, look pinched and exhausted.
My children are getting thinner and thinner, says the 33-year-old refugee from Myanmar. If they dont get help soon, they will die.
Some 429,000 Rohingyas have fled Myanmar since a violent crackdown on the Rohingya community began a month ago following a series of attacks on security posts.
The vast majority, like Sara and her family, are now living in informal camps and spontaneous settlements that have sprung up in Bangladesh, clinging to hillsides and strung out along busy roads.
Their need for food, shelter, access to healthcare and child protection is particularly acute.
Its not safe here for them here.
While barely clinging to life on the outskirts of Kutupalong refugee camp, one of two formal refugee camps operated by the Bangladesh government, Sara is incredibly more fortunate than many.
Along the road south from the camp, single mother Agida, 35, and her four children sleep rough on the mud-churned verge, strewn with discarded trash and clothes.
She survives on occasional aid packages handed out or tossed from trucks by private donors, and by begging from passing cars. Exposed to the monsoon downpours, she is also terrified for her children.
Its not safe here for them here, she says with a desperation in her voice nearing panic. Someone could take them while I sleep.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is stepping up all efforts to safeguard the most vulnerable refugees like Sara, Agida and their families caught up in a tragic crisis unprecedented in the region in decades.
Refugees chief Filippo Grandi this weekend heard at first hand the challenges facing Rohingya refugees in Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. UNHCR/Roger Arnold
People have fled unspeakable violence, and their needs are enormous, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi as he toured Kutupalong camp and the sprawling new adjacent extension today during a visit to Bangladesh.
Despite huge challenges at the beginning, there was a phenomenal outpouring of local generosity and support, Grandi added. International support is also now being stepped up, under the leadership of the government. But these efforts must be accelerated and sustained.
Of the scars which Rohingya refugees carry, the most difficult ones to heal will be those that violence has caused to their hearts & minds. pic.twitter.com/5oD2D6HNnh Filippo Grandi (@RefugeesChief) September 23, 2017
At the start of a three-day visit to Bangladesh, Grandi walked through the existing camp, which was founded in 1992 in response to previous outflows from Myanmar, and has schools, health and community centres.
Accompanied by UNHCR field staff and Bangladeshi officials, Grandi also walked to an adjoining site recently assigned for the new arrivals, where UNHCR staff were today delivering cooking equipment, sleeping mats, solar lamps and other essential relief items to an initial 3,500 families selected by community leaders.
UNHCR head Filippo Grandi meets with Rohingya refugees in Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. UNHCR/Roger Arnold
At the request of Bangladeshi authorities, the agency is also putting up hundreds of family tents and distributing thousands of plastic sheets to help shelter refugees like Sara. The UN Refugee Agency, with the help of backers such as the UAE and the courier service UPS, has now sent four planes loaded with relief items into the country.
With heavy monsoon rains lashing Bangladesh, that help cannot come soon enough for Rohingya mother Tahera Begum, 22, whose extended family live in a dirt-floored shack in a precarious settlement south of Kutupalong.
To escape flooding, they had carved a niche for their shelter in a rain-swept hillside. As she slept, her six-month old son Mohammad Sohail wriggled out and slid down the hillside. By sheer chance he was unhurt.
Grandi asked mothers gathered in the makeshift camp what their children needed most. Everything, they replied.
* Additional reporting/editing by Kitty McKinsey
Your support is urgently needed to help the children, women and men refuges in Bangladesh. Please give now.
With the almost daily monsoon rains, the displaced Rohingya have many challenges as they cross a stream from a makeshift camp to a road. UNHCR/Paula Bronstein
KUTUPALONG REFUGEE CAMP, Bangladesh When her village was torched in Myanmar, Rabeya Khattm gathered up her six children and fled through monsoon rains.
Frequently drenched on the eight-day slog over rough terrain to reach Bangladesh, two of her children came down with chills.
But now she is finally in the dry, under a UNHCR tarpaulin, her children aged a few months to 11 years gathered around her on a plastic sheet, her sick baby under a cloth in her lap.
"The rain cannot attack me anymore.
It was raining all yesterday, and we couldnt sleep but now the rain cannot attack me anymore, she says.
An estimated 421,000 Rohingya a largely stateless Muslim minority in Myanmar have arrived in Bangladesh since the latest bout of violence broke out on August 25.
Rabeya is among thousands of children, women and men in this informal settlement outside Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh who are now benefitting from a UNHCR aid delivery.
Bangladesh: Rohingya build shelters as crowds grow. (Ismail Ferdous, cameraman / Wendy Tiba, editor)
UN Refugee Agency staff have provided some 150 family tents to newly arrived refugees, and have 6,000 more that will arrive in coming days, said Franklin Golay, a member of UNHCR field staff and part of a team providing water, latrines, tents and shelter in the area.
UNHCR is also providing tarpaulins to refugees in the settlement, which sprawls over rugged terrain, made soggy by seasonal downpours. Mud is ankle deep on pathways.
Displaced Rohingya family struggle across a swollen stream to a makeshift camp. UNHCR/Paula Bronstein
Shelter is key, as we still have a lot of people sleeping along the roads without anything, said Golay, who estimates the population of the informal settlement at around 15,000, and growing daily.
Water and sanitation is also a vital issue because you have open defecation and people drinking water from unprotected sources, he added.
While Rabeya and her children are now receiving help, many are still exposed to the elements and are struggling among them 65-year-old Khadija, who fled Myanmar after attackers burned her village to the ground.
Rohingya refugee Rabeya Khattm sits on the floor of a shelter in a makeshift camp near Kutupalong, Bangladesh, on 18 September 2017. She spent eight days walking from Myanmar in monsoon rains. UNHCR/Tim Gaynor
Exhausted after a week-long foot journey, she lies slumped on the ground. Her teeth stained deep red from chewing betel nuts to ward off hunger.
I am getting weaker and weaker, she says. Asked what she needs, she said, Shelter, food, water and medicine.
With her is Amina Khadun. She holds out an arm broken in the attack on her village.
Untreated, it dangles at an unnatural angle.
I need help, she says. I dont have shelter, I dont have anything to eat. I have nothing.
Your support is urgently needed to help the children, women and men refuges in Bangladesh. Please give now.
Taking responsibility
After the devastating earthquakes in 2015, the government declared that all relief aid and cash assistance for victims needed to be donated to the Prime Ministers Disaster Relief Fund to ensure proper and equal distributions to all affected areas.
Talking about mental illness
When it comes to illness that concerns the mind, even the young, educated and privileged in the countrys most urbane and modern city find it hard to accept, let alone embrace,
Cabo Wabo Cantina, located inside Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, will honor National Breast Cancer Awareness Month by donating a portion of the proceeds from each Vojito cocktail purchase to Susan G. Komen of Southern Nevada throughout the month of October (Pictured: The Vojito Photo credit: J Rick Martin).
Cabo Wabos original Vojito is handcrafted with Devotion Black and Blue vodka, fresh berries, fresh mint and lime juice, priced at $13. Guests also have the option of keeping the souvenir Vojito glass for an additional $10. From Sunday, Oct. 1, through Tuesday, Oct. 31, Cabo Wabo will donate $1 from each sale to Susan G. Komen of Southern Nevada, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to provide breast health education, screening and treatment services to medically underserved women in the area. Guests who purchase the Vojito during October will also receive a complimentary pink rubber wristband.
Full-service marketing, consulting and design firm, Back Bar USA, will award scholarships to University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) students throughout the 2017-2018 academic year (Pictured: Back Bar USA Chief Executive Officer Flor Bernal).
UNLV continues to provide an exceptional education in the hospitality industry, as well as unparalleled local resources for students, said Back Bar founder and UNLV alumnus, Tim Haughinberry. These students are the future business leaders in Las Vegas, and Back Bar is proud to support their education.
Back Bar USA first established a scholarship program with UNLV in 2016. The 2017/2018 Back Bar USA scholarships will continue to be awarded to students in UNLVs Hospitality Management program with requirements that include full-time enrollment in the Honors College, current residency in Nevada, completion of at least 60 credits and a minimum grade point average of 3.40.
When Back Bar USA scholarship candidates are selected, students will meet with Haughinberry, and chief executive officer, Flor Bernal, also a UNLV alumna. More information about the scholarships and eligibility requirements is available by contacting the Honors College Scholarship Committee of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas at 702.895.3011 or via the website at www.unlv.edu.
Pyramid of German helmets near Grand Central Terminal : black-and-white photoprint, ca. 1918.
Closeup of Pyramid
"View of the employees of the New York Central / Railroad, assembled in Victory Way, showing the pyramid of captured / German helmets, with Grand Central Terminal in / the background." Two cannons are shown at the left and right.
Though kind of macabre, to celebrate the end of World War I in 1918, this massive pyramid was constructed near Grand Central Terminal using the helmets of captured and killed German soldiers. The label on the back of the original photograph says There must be over a thousand pointed helmets in that stack, and despite all that the Germans did, celebrating the death of that many people just seems wrong.(via Viewing NYC
Investors could face criminal charges if they try to manipulate stock prices to earn illegal profits and cause damage to the market and listed companies. - Photo wallpaperose.com
According to the State Securities Commission (SSC), there are fines and penalties for violations that individual investors commit on the securities market.
The highest penalty for violations on the securities market is VN1 billion (US$44,400) for individual investors, according to Decree 108/2913/N-CP issued in September 2013.
The SSC has recently issued several penalties for investors who violate market regulations on stock trading.
On September 1, investor Phan Sy Hai was fined VN550 million for using 28 accounts, including three under his name, to create false information to illegally trade shares of Vimedimex Pharmaceutical JSC (HOSE: VMD).
On August 10, the SSC decided to issue a fine of VN600 million the highest penalty on Viet Nams stock market to Tran Thi Minh Phuong for using 42 accounts, including three under her name, to illegally trade shares of HAGL Agrico (HOSE: HNG).
However, those fines have proved to be ineffective in reducing the number of violations by individual investors in the securities market, such as internal trading and manipulation of stock prices.
Therefore, the Ministry of Finance on August 22 released Document 20/VBHN-BTC to regulate penalties and fines for those who commit violations on the securities trading market.
The document was published by the finance ministry on August 22 this year to combine Circular 217/2013/TT-BTC and Circular 36/2017/TT-BTC, both of which were regulatory policies from the finance ministry.
Circular 217 was issued on December 31, 2013, to regulate penalties and fines for violations committed in the securities market, and Circular 36 was dated April 27, 2017, as an amendment to Circular 217.
Under the Document 20, if an investor is suspected of having conducted illegal transactions that could cause heavy damages to companies, share prices or the stock market, the market regulators must report the case to the police for criminal prosecution.
Uoc Les pork paste making began around half a century ago. According to the village records, during the Mac Dynasty in the 16th century, a concubine in the imperial court who was a Uoc Le native helped villagers build the impressive village gate and taught them how to make pork paste.
Uoc Le people were hard-working and eager to make a fortune from their traditional job.
Village elder Nguyen Duc Hanh recalled, 90% of villagers used to make pork pies. As the Vietnamese saying goes one cannot get rich without engaging in trade, most villagers do business far from home. Some even went abroad to France or the US.
Uoc Les products are diverse ranging from lean pork paste, beef dumpling, fried pie, pork and skin paste, to roasted cinnamon pork, and fermented pork roll. But the most notable products are lean pork paste and roasted cinnamon pork.
Making Uoc Le pork paste requires meticulous steps, from choosing the meat to the processing techniques. The meat should be the freshest rump part. Traditionally the meat was manually ground until it became pliable paste.
Now Uoc Le villagers use meat grinders which help them liberate labor force but they still maintain the traditional method.
Uoc Le native Nguyen Duc Binh, whose shop is in Khuong Dinh market in Hanoi, said, Its necessary to choose good meat if you want to turn out delicious products. Its also important to balance the lean and fat pork meat. The meat is now ground by machine. The spices including fish sauce, honey, and salt are also important. A delicious pork paste product when cut open should have many holes inside."
Roasted cinnamon pork is delicious thanks to the meaty taste of roasted lean pork, the fragrance of cinnamon, honey, and daylily.
Uoc Le villager Nguyen Dinh Duong said, To make pork paste, all the veins and fat parts should be removed. The remaining lean meat is sliced and then ground with different kinds of spices and salt. The paste is wrapped by banana leaves and steamed for 60 to 70 minutes."
"More fat meat is used in making chopped meat paste than in pork paste. Chopped meat paste are fried instead of steamed. 1kg of meat turns out 1 kg of pork paste while we often have 1.2 kg of chopped meat paste from 1 kg of meat, he said.
Pork paste is indispensable in a Vietnamese feast, especially during holidays or Tet, the traditional New Year festival. Uoc Le villagers are proud of making the biggest roasted cinnamon pork paste loaf in Vietnam in 2003 to honor and promote the traditional craft.
Binh said, It set the Vietnam record of biggest cinnamon pork paste loaf which used 170 kilos of meat, 50 kilos of fat, cinnamon powder, and spices. It weighed 200 kilos, was 4 meters long, and had a diameter of 50 centimeters. I was bestowed an artisan following successfully making the record pork.
Every year on the first day of the first lunar month, Uoc Le people organize their village festival to honor the traditional craft.
The Art of Tenderising Meat
If we allow that human life can be governed by reason, the possibility of life is annihilated. Leo Tolstoy
China has banned the import of foreign soft cheese, angering foreign trade officials who say it is unjustified.
The nationwide ban which came into place earlier this month stops foreigners providing soft cheeses, such as Brie, Camembert, Gorgonzola, and Stilton, to Chinas relatively small but growing soft cheese market.
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Chinese officials say foreign soft cheese contains too much bacteria and consist of unapproved molds as well.
Most of the now-banned foreign soft cheese was imported from New Zealand and Australia, but much of the publicized indignation has come from European officials.
There is no good reason for the ban, because China considers the same cheese safe if produced in China, said William Fingleton, a spokesman for the delegation of the European Union to China, in an email, reported The Guardian.
This effectively means that China is banning famous and traditional European cheeses that have been safely imported and consumed in China for decades, said Fingleton. The entire Chinese market for soft cheeses is now closed.
China's food hygiene authorities turn noses up at French cheese blocking imports of Camembert, Brie and Roquefort https://t.co/fqGeEBBLBA pic.twitter.com/qPkqLYJKmJ AFP News Agency (@AFP) September 9, 2017
Foreign soft cheese more than just a cheesy dispute
Diplomatic sources in the EU told Reuters the ban does not honor commitments, nor comply with international standards.
The sources said that they have made their objections known to the Chinese government, which has so far failed to respond to their concerns.
State-run Global Times has, however, downplayed the ban, which it said mainly affected smelly-soft-cheese-eating expats. Chinese people do not traditionally consume cheese.
Some commentators say the ban is a sign of a brewing trade dispute, related to European frustration over Chinas lack of market liberalization.
Now, Beijing is considering demanding a certificate of safe use for imported items like noodles, cookies, and candy, while the EU wants to impose tighter restrictions on Chinese investors, wrote Stephan Scheuer, Handelsblatt Globals correspondent in Beijing.
The EU is currently formulating a plan to subject Chinese investments in Europe to more scrutiny.
A lot of foreign things get banned in China. A few of them are listed in the video below by popular China-based vlogger laowhy86, who talks more about the soft cheese ban.
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The Western Press is presenting Daesh as a racist organization that would be fighting Kurds simply because they are Kurds. Baloney: there are Kurdish units within Daesh.
Abu al-Hadi al-Iraqi was the Kurdish leader in Al-Qaeda. During the CIAs Operation Cyclone against the Soviets, he led Al-Quaedas Kurdish camp. After the US invasion, he managed the Ashara guest house in Kabul, as al Quaedas number three man. Now he is being detained in Guantanamo.
In November 2016, the Islamic Emirate in Iraq (from which would germinate Daesh) released a video entitled Message to Kurds and the Martyr Operation. The organization was calling Kurds to join it.
The most famous Kurdish member of Daesh is Mullah Krekar (photo). He is the Emir of the Salafist group, Ansar al-Islam fi Kurdistan. He is a political refugee in Norway. He was imprisoned there on two occasions for praising terrorism. However, in the period that he was officially imprisoned, he climbed on board a special Nato plane to participate in a meeting on 1 June 2014, in Amman. The agenda for this meeting: planning Daeshs invasion of Iraq [1]. When he returned to his prison life in Norway, he announced his allegiance to the Islamic State. Now he lives in Oslo, a free man.
Photo: CABLUCK/AP/REX/Shutterstock/CABLUCK/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Harry Knowles, the founder of Aint It Cool News, has been accused by a woman of repeated sexual assault. Per Indiewire, former Alamo Drafthouse employee Jasmine Baker claims the assaults took place in 1999 and 2000 at official Drafthouse events, where Knowles rubbed up against her buttocks and legs in a way that made her feel uncomfortable and rubbed up against her again in another instance; he also put his hand under her shirt on one occasion. Harry Knowles groped me, opportunistically, on more than one occasion, Baker said. I cannot just stay silent. I am not interested in remaining silent. Baker continued to say when she told Tim and Karrie League, the Alamo Drafthouses founders, about the assault, they sympathized with her and thought it was horrifying, but only suggested that she avoid Knowles. When reached for comment by Indiewire, Knowles categorically denied all of Bakers claims.
These sexual-assault claims against Knowles come after Devin Faraci resigned as editor of Birth.Movies.Death which is owned by Alamo Drafthouse last October, after allegations of sexual harassment went viral. Quick question, a female critic identified by the Daily Beast as Caroline asked Faraci in a now-deleted tweet. Do you remember grabbing me by the pussy and bragging to our friends about it, telling them to smell your fingers? Almost a year after Faracis removal, IndieWire reported in September that Faraci had been quietly rehired by Tim League and had been working for Alamo Drafthouse as recently as February 2017. In a Facebook post, League said he rehired Faraci to help with his recovery from substance abuse, and that Faraci wrote copy for Alamo Drafthouse and the Fantastic Fest festival guide. League apologized, but not before Fox Searchlight pulled its surefire awards contender Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri whose plot deals with sexual assault from Alamo Drafthouses annual Fantastic Fest.
This week, Aint It Cool News was dropped as a Fantastic Fest sponsor. Knowles, the founder, told IndieWire that he would not attend the festival, partly because of additional accusations that hed harassed an ex-girlfriend. There was a rumor about me and an ex-girlfriend that felt ugly, Knowles said at the time. Theyre a complete fabrication and lie.
UN Secretary-General Guteress lauds Nepal's elections
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guteress has lauded Nepal's efforts for concluding the local level elections in the recent days and wished for the success of upcoming elections.
Someday, a rain storm like none in the Waco areas recorded history could push Lake Waco to the top of its floodgates, engulf Waco Regional Airport, cascade down to the Brazos River and imperil East Waco and Baylor University with a surge of floodwater.
That apocalyptic scene comes not from the fevered imaginations of Hollywood scriptwriters but sober-minded hydrogeologists who designed Lake Waco for the worst-case scenario, called a maximum probable flood.
But recent events have some experts wondering if their worst-case scenarios are dire enough.
Hurricane Harveys assault on the Houston area last month broke records more than a century old and caused disastrous flooding well beyond designated floodplains. A record rainfall just shy of 52 inches fell near Cedar Bayou, and an area of 11,492 square miles was covered in at least 30 inches of rain.
Since then, climatologists and government hydrologists have resolved to revisit the models that communities use to assess how vulnerable they are to storms and floods.
We havent analyzed this yet. Its almost too soon, said Allen Avance, a hydrologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Fort Worth District office. Our plans are to take that storm and analyze it and see if its possible for such a thing to move inland.
The Corps has already been working with the city of Waco and McLennan County to model how another storm the one that dumped 29 inches on Gainesville in May 2015 and flooded the Trinity River would have affected waterways in McLennan County.
In the meantime, the Houston flood has already worked its way into Waco politics. Opponents of a proposed new landfill on Old Lorena Road, next to the current landfill, have repeatedly asserted that a Harvey-style rainfall event could cause Lake Waco to back up into the landfill site. Waco officials say that scenario is inconceivable given the design of the lake.
Of course, Waco isnt Houston. Waco is much better drained: Its terrain drops 240 feet between the old Hillcrest Hospital and the Brazos River, which is itself 350 feet above sea level. And being more than 200 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, this city is far less prone to hurricane-based rainfall, state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said.
Nielsen-Gammon, who is based at Texas A&M University, was involved in calculating probable maximum precipitation estimates for Texas.
We would not have conjectured that a tropical storm like Harvey would occur as far north as Waco, he said.
Still, Nielsen-Gammon said theres reason to think the worst-case scenarios around the state may ultimately need to be revised upward, especially as warming ocean temperatures intensify tropical storms.
The biggest problem with the theoretical flood is that theres actually no theory involved with this, he said. Its more like a maximum flood based on historical events and maximum moisture available. As more events happen, Harvey being an example, you expand the realm of possibility. More things that can happen actually do happen.
And when it comes to storms and floods in the Waco area, theres reason to think the worst is yet to come.
Extremes of rainfall
A 1980 masters thesis published by Baylor Universitys geology department observed that Waco has been spared the extremes of rainfall that have fallen in other inland areas, such as the 36 inches that fell in Thrall, Texas, in an 18-hour period in 1921.
Based on such a storm, the author, Edward Dale Leach, calculated a maximum probable flood for Waco that would reach 68 feet 27 feet above the flood of record on the Brazos River.
If Lake Waco and Lake Whitney were already full, an extreme storm could have disastrous consequences such as Waco has never seen, Leach wrote.
Those conditions will someday coincide with a great storm, and a great flood will occur on the Brazos River in Waco, Leach wrote.
Waco City Hall will be under nine feet of water, and the county courthouse will be on the edge of the Brazos River, he wrote. There will not be a square foot of Baylor University that is not inundated, and all bridges crossing the Brazos River will be either washed away or covered by floodwater. Hundreds of houses will be flooded and many washed away. There is no method of estimating the loss of life.
Avance, the Corps hydrologist, said such a scenario is not impossible, but it would require simultaneous maximum floods on the Bosque and Brazos Rivers, and it would be what might be termed a million-year flood.
Any worst-case scenario for Waco would involve both the Brazos River, which drains a huge swath of Texas, and the much smaller Bosque River, which feeds Lake Waco before flowing into the Brazos at Cameron Park.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers designed Lake Whitney to contain a maximum probable flood on the Brazos and Lake Waco to do the same for the Bosque River and tributaries.
Those dams have been so effective that the Brazos has not flooded any significant part of Waco since the completion of Lake Waco in 1964. Few remember the days, most recently in 1957, when the Brazos would periodically sprawl across East Waco and rescuers would paddle boats down Elm Avenue.
The two dams can hold back a vast amount of water. Lake Whitney can triple in size to 1.6 million acre-feet of storage, with an acre-foot representing 325,851 gallons.
In a maximum flood, Lake Waco can rise 38 feet to hold an additional 553,300 acre-feet of stormwater above its normal level. Even without discharging water, the dam could hold back two floods the size of the record 1936 flood on the Bosque and still have room to spare.
The dam was designed based not just on that 1936 flood but on other historic rainstorms in the region, including an 1899 flood at Hearne. The lake has a normal level of 462 feet above sea level and a maximum height of 500 feet.
Long before the lake fills up, the dam gates would release unprecedented amounts of water at a rate of up to 563,000 cubic feet per second. If the lake ever topped the 500-foot mark, it is designed to drain onto Waco Regional Airport and China Spring Road so it doesnt spill over the dam and risk a catastrophic dam failure.
In building Lake Waco, the Corps designated a no-build easement around the lake up to the 503-foot elevation, and a small finger of that easement reaches into the site of the proposed Old Lorena Road landfill. Bradford Holland, head of Citizens Against the Highway 84 Landfill, has warned that the lake could back up into the proposed new landfill.
Should water levels reach the 503 flowage easement floodwater level, our drinking water reservoir will absorb all leachate that has EVER run off the landfill property, he wrote in an email to the Tribune-Herald.
Totally illegitimate
But Deputy City Manager Wiley Stem called that concern totally illegitimate. First, the new landfill would skirt the 503-foot easement. The bottom of the lowest cell at the current landfill is at 519 feet, and he expects similar minimum elevations at the Old Lorena Road site.
We would have to be 16 feet above the top of the spillway for that to happen, Stem said. The landfill is above the top of the dam. In a case like that, the water is going to top the dam and go over the dam, not back up into the landfill. We would have much bigger issues, the loss of life, people drowning downstream. Im very confident that in any event that our landfill or any other new landfill will be able to handle any flood event.
The record level for Lake Waco is 488.5 feet above sea level on Christmas Eve 1991, followed by 486 feet in July 2007 and 484.5 feet in June 2016.
The true worst-case scenario would be for water to top the dam and wash it out, unleashing a tsunami-like wall of water downstream.
The Corps of Engineers and the Waco-McLennan County Office of Emergency Management regularly collaborate for table-top exercises to rehearse how they would respond to such an event, unlikely as it may be.
Local emergency management director Frank Patterson said the lakes would release a huge amount of water to prevent a dam breach.
I think the Corps has a good handle on the dam and keeping it from failing, Patterson said. Their job is to protect the dam.
But he said releasing so much water could cause damaging floods downstream. And he sees increasing challenges in managing floodwater in general.
I tell you, its not going to get any better, he said. The more things we build, the more rooftops we put in, the more risk we have of flooding.
Political battle over Waco landfill heats up with charges of misinformation The full-court press to block a new landfill on Old Lorena Road has run into push-back from the Waco City Council members that opponents are t
As the first case involving the May 2015 Twin Peaks shootout appears heading to trial, McLennan County officials continue to plan for the potential astronomical costs related to the one-of-a-kind legal proceedings.
Houston attorney Casie Gotro, who represents biker Jacob Carrizal, has announced she is representing the Bandidos Dallas chapter president for free. So that will save the county money, along with other bikers who have hired their own attorneys instead of relying on county-funded, court-appointed attorneys.
About 70 of the 154 indicted bikers have court-appointed attorneys, but the majority of those attorneys havent sent bills to the county yet, according to county records.
Because of the uncertainty of the number of bikers who will be going to trial, whether those following Carrizal will seek changes of venue, which drive up trial costs dramatically, how much expert witnesses will bill the county and a variety of unknown factors, county officials really have no way to budget for the millions of dollars the Twin Peaks cases are expected to cost.
The handful of lawyers who have taken the forefront and who have been pushing for speedy trials for their clients are hired, so the county wont be paying them. Others who are court-appointed are keeping a lower profile, presumably while reviewing the four terabytes worth of evidence turned over to them by prosecutors in the unique, convoluted case.
According to figures supplied by McLennan County Auditor Stan Chambers office, McLennan County has paid out $230,751 so far in Twin Peaks-related expenses. Those expenses include fees to court-appointed attorneys, a court-appointed investigator and lawyers hired to represent two elected county officials in federal civil rights lawsuits and grievances.
With no trials in sight, Twin Peaks expenses mounting for McLennan County Although the Twin Peaks biker trials have been put on hold until after a federal case agains
The Tribune-Herald reported April 23 that the county had paid out $208,239 in Twin Peaks-related bills. So roughly $22,000 in bills have come in since April, Chambers said.
Of that amount, $20,149 was paid to Kevin Fisk, a private investigator who is county-appointed but working with Gotro on Carrizals case. Fisk, a former investigator with the Waco Fire Department, sent payment requisition forms to the county April 18, June 5 and Sept. 14.
Two of the three forms were not subject to Public Information Act requests and could not be viewed because 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother ordered them sealed before Gotro successfully got Strother recused from Carrizals case.
Such requisition forms can be sealed if the defense requests it out of fear that prosecutors, or anyone with a Public Information Act request, could review the documents and learn the names of defense witnesses who were interviewed or other elements of defense strategy.
Strother, who declined comment because of the recusal, found Carrizal indigent at a previous hearing after Gotro asked for Fisk to be paid by the county.
After Strothers recusal, Carrizals case was transferred to Judge Matt Johnsons court. When Johnson was presented a bill by Fisk, he required that Carrizal, an employee of the Dallas, Garland and Northeastern Railroad, fill out an application for paupers oath listing his financial information. Johnson upheld Strothers indigent finding and approved Fisks request.
Fisk and Gotro did not return phone messages for this story.
Johnson also declined comment on Twin Peaks expenses.
It is rare but not unheard of for judges to approve requests for court-appointed investigators or expert witnesses, even in cases in which attorneys are retained or say they are working for free or pro bono. Defendants who hire attorneys on their own still might be considered indigent if they had to clean out their bank accounts to pay their lawyers and to post bail and have no other available assets, officials said.
In Johnsons court, court-appointed attorneys are paid $75 an hour for preparation time and $80 an hour while they are in court. Court-appointed investigators are paid $55 an hour, but sometimes less for travel time.
Investigator fees
Johnson typically allows $750 for investigators in first-degree felony cases, $500 for second-degree felonies, $400 for third-degree felonies and $300 for state-jail felonies. Attorneys know they can ask the judge for more investigative funds if that money runs out.
In Carrizals case, Fisk, who signed on with Gotro in April, would have worked 366 hours at $55 an hour to earn $20,149. That amounts to nine 40-hour work weeks.
No one argues that the Twin Peaks cases are typical in any respect. McLennan County officials are plowing new ground, and defense attorneys so far have left no matter unchallenged, including the recusal of Strother, the failed recusal of Johnson and attempts to disqualify District Attorney Abel Reyna.
The judges, in a sense, are viewing the cases the way they would a death-penalty case, knowing they need to give attorneys the resources they say they need because every issue and every ruling will be scrutinized on appeal should the bikers be convicted.
Still, Fisks bills, thus far, raised some eyebrows around the courthouse.
With no trials in sight, Twin Peaks expenses mounting for McLennan County Although the Twin Peaks biker trials have been put on hold until after a federal case agains
Longtime private investigator Ed McElyea said the only time he submitted payment requisitions approaching what Fisk has filed was in a capital murder case that stretched out for more than three years.
The judges have always been fair to me and pay me appropriately, McElyea said. I have been doing this 13 years and they trust me to be fair, and, in turn, I dont over bill them.
McElyea said he isnt suggesting Fisk is over billing the county. He said he doesnt know what his bill entailed, but he knows that prosecutors have released an unprecedented amount of evidence to the defense that will require many hours to review.
An itemized list justifying Fisks bill dated June 5 shows he traveled to Austin and Houston, obtained and served multiple subpoenas, researched tapes of jail phone calls, conducted interviews, reviewed data recovered from cellphones and worked on a witness list, among other duties.
Carrizal is set for trial Oct. 9, 29 months after the shootout that left nine dead and more than a dozen wounded.
Two years after shootout, Twin Peaks resolutions remain elusive In the two years since James Patrick Harris was arrested after the Twin Peaks shootout in
The eight-year partnership between McLennan Community College and Texas Tech University is set to expand until at least 2022, in an effort to meet growing education and economic development needs in Waco.
Texas Tech officials want to boost the schools enrollment at MCCs University Center from about 200 students to 1,000 students by about 2020 with a slew of new degree programs and more faculty members. A new building on or near MCC campus will eventually hold the students pursuing bachelors degrees from Texas Tech in Waco, Texas Tech Vice Provost Melanie Hart said.
The importance of having an affordable degree is something that Texas Tech is really interested in, Hart said. Its the right thing to do. These students are able to attend MCC. They get a good background education at a lower cost. Then, they transfer to Texas Tech, and if they have good-quality GPAs, they get additional scholarships that allow them to, really, cut the cost of the degree down to easily half of what it would have cost had they gone to Lubbock.
Enter Wacos Bernard & Audre Rapoport Foundation, with its longstanding philanthropic support of education. Executive Director Tom Stanton said the foundation will lay the groundwork in scholarships for the many nontraditional students who work and support families while attending college.
This is all about jobs, Stanton said. Theres a huge economic development piece for Waco here. Waco is in a position over the next 25 or 30 years to explode, and the question is, how are we, as a community, going to deal with all of that?
The two plus two program, with two years pursuing an MCC associates degree and two years pursuing a bachelors degree through the University Center, ultimately costs students about $30,000 before scholarships, he said.
Among the degree programs in discussion or planning for Texas Techs Waco wing are restaurant, hotel and institutional management and technical communication and rhetoric. Texas Tech already has 10 full-time employees in Waco, MCC Vice President of Instruction Fred Hills said.
Conversations with the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce and the Waco Business League formed the understanding of which degrees will hold the most value in Waco over the next 10 years.
In the long run, it helps Waco, Hills said. It provides a better skilled workforce to meet the demands of the current industry, but it also provides a pool of qualified workers that can attract new industries to town that, in the past, we havent been able to reach out to.
Programs centered on applied arts and sciences would allow students to apply workforce credits, including those earned at Texas State Technical College, toward a bachelors degree. Designer degrees could also be built around a combination of minors, officials said.
Texas Tech also hopes to attract students with opportunities specific to Waco, such as lessons at the Waco Mammoth National Monument.
Tarleton State University, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and Midwestern State University also partner with MCCs University Center.
Waco businessman and civic leader Carey Hobbs, a Texas Tech graduate, has helped the fundraising effort for Techs expansion in Waco.
Hobbs said the program dispels the common advice that students must attend a traditional, four-year college.
One of the things that make this so attractive to Texas Tech is the quality of MCC, he said. Theyre starting with an awfully good base. What I like about it is it incorporates all the things Im interested in: MCC, TSTC, Texas Tech and Waco in general.
For some people, joining the service is a calling. For others, its more a passageway to maturity, providing necessary discipline and direction for young people on the brink of adulthood. China Spring resident David G. Stovall, now 66, would most likely fall in the latter category. The military provided intangible skills he didnt know he was missing.
Stovall was born in Waco, but raised in Austin. He was 10 when his father passed away from kidney disease. With four sisters and two brothers to care for, keeping the boys out of trouble was practically impossible.
His other brother, Jimmy, had been in and out of lockup since he was young. Stovall himself quit school to work, but found he was getting into trouble. My friends and I were pretty much troublemakers, he said.
Then, of all people, Jimmy stepped in and suggested he join the Army. He even took him to Houston to talk to an Army recruiter, whose office was closed for lunch. But across the hallway was a Marine recruiter. I said, I always wanted to be a Marine anyway. I liked their uniforms, he said. Thats how he became a Marine shortly after his 18th birthday.
Stovall went for basic training at the Marine Corps Recruitment Depot in San Diego, California, to become a rifleman, just as every Marine does. His advanced training included more military and combat skills such as explosives, hand-to-hand combat, helicopter deployment, amphibious landings and more.
After the customary 30-day leave, Stovall went to the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, a staging area to deploy to Vietnam. He wasnt assigned a unit until he got to Okinawa, where he joined the Headquarters and Service Co., 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.
He became part of a CUPP unit, or Combined Unit Pacification Program, in the Quang Nam Province located about 20 miles southwest of Da Nang. CUPP units actually resided within the villages and were paired with local militia called Regional Forces and Popular Forces. The idea was to bring together the skilled Marines with the locals knowledge of the people and the terrain within and around a village. The main goal was protection.
Rifleman to machine gunner
When he arrived in Vietnam, he was a rifleman. Two days later, Stovall, a tall, strong man, became a machine gunner on the M-60, replacing those who were rotating out. His first time out was a frightening one: I was really pretty scared. You can see the firefights in the distance; I wondered if I was going to die on my first night there, he said.
The Marines lived in native huts Stovall said were made of thatch and cardboard. They ate C-rations supplemented with rice and corn, but shied away from local Asian food. Although the villagers tolerated their presence, they were farmers who really didnt care about war, he said. They werent overly friendly.
Still, the locals could be in danger from the Viet Cong or the North Vietnamese Army, who would sometimes slip into the village at night. They were similar to todays terrorists in that they had no qualms about using children as booby traps and sending them out among the American troops and its allies, he said.
Keeping watch in the dark
The men patrolled mostly at night, setting up ambush areas and keeping watch into the darkness. Once, they spotted a boat full of Viet Cong headed their way. Stovall fired his M-60 and sunk it.
Nobody wants to be in a war zone, he said. It was so different than anything I had ever experienced.
Stovalls tour was cut short when he became ill. He was quarantined for a time because his illness was unknown. While he was there, he found out Jimmy was dying from the same kidney disease that had killed their father. He managed to get medevaced to San Antonio and see his brother a couple of times.
Once better, Stovall was to report back to Camp Pendleton. His 6-foot-4-inch frame went from 240 pounds at the start of his Vietnam tour to a low of 180 pounds by the time he left.
Jimmy, just 24, died on the day he arrived at the camp in December 1970. David stayed in the Marines for three more years before receiving his honorable discharge in December 1973.
He met his future wife, Rosemary Teer from Texas, who worked for the Red Cross at Camp Pendleton, and they married in November 1970. They will celebrate 47 years together later this year.
Proud to have served
I was proud to serve, but Im sad for all the men and women who lost their lives, Stovall said of his experience. I think it was a political war, and they would not let the military do their job and end it.
Bonifacio Garcia Romo, lovingly known to most as "Barney", a native of Waco, passed away at his home on Tuesday, September 19, 2017. Family and friends will gather from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, September 27, at Geneva Hall, 740 S. Connally Dr., in Elm Mott, for a time of sharing memories and a potluck dinner. The family request that you please bring a dish.
Like most Wacoans, I have family and friends who have been significantly impacted by Hurricane Harvey. My uncle Robert Hanson from Bevil Oaks just west of Beaumont had 6 feet of water in his Piney Woods home. He lost everything. The families of my Beaumont cousins Ross, Cathleen, Colleen and Ron are still displaced, some living with relatives and others in trailers.
And though their second-floor Houston apartment was not damaged, my nephew Brandt Burleson and his wife Kelly were forced to relocate permanently to another apartment after their entire apartment complex was condemned as toxic. They were given three days to find a new place to live.
While hurricanes and flooding in Southeast Texas are not new I remember as a child being rescued from our Beaumont home by boat when Hurricane Debra hit in 1959 and then fleeing town when Hurricane Carla hit in 1961 Texans are now wondering if catastrophic coastal flooding is the new norm. It certainly seems that way.
My church, Seventh and James Baptist, turned our education building into a temporary housing facility after Katrina struck in 2005. And with Hurricane Rita only weeks later, all of my Beaumont cousins evacuated to Waco to stay with my extended family here in Central Texas. Many Wacoans provided shelter public and private for evacuees at that time.
The Environmental Protection Agency reports that Texas has warmed about a degree in the past century and that annual rainfall in the eastern two-thirds of the state is increasing so that rainstorms are more intense and flooding is more severe. The sea on our Texas coast is rising about 2 inches per decade.
Our climate is changing because the earth is warming, the EPA reports. People have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the air by 40 percent since the late 1700s. Other heat-trapping greenhouse gases are also increasing. These gases have warmed the surface and lower atmosphere of our planet about one degree during the past 50 years. Evaporation increases as the atmosphere warms, which increases humidity, average rainfall and the frequency of heavy rainstorms in many places but contributes to drought in others.
With warmer oceans and rising sea levels, hurricanes may be more frequent and more intense. Chances are were looking at the new norm along the Texas coast.
So what are we to do? Unfortunately, the Gulf coast states such as Texas that are most impacted by hurricanes are also governed by Republican Party climate deniers beholden to the fossil-fuel industry. The Republican elephant has become the Republican ostrich with head planted firmly in Texas sand. Elected Republican leaders from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida who have a lock on state and national seats of power are behaving as the willfully ignorant.
According to Open Secrets: Center for Responsible Politics, Texas District 17 Republican Congressman Bill Flores, a former oil industry executive, has received well over half of his corporate sponsorships this cycle from the oil and gas industry. Seventy-seven percent of his funding for 2017-2018 comes from PACs, often with fossil-fuel interests.
The politically active Koch brothers, who champion climate-change denying politicians, are among Flores top contributors. Flores will tell you that he is proud to support the bottom line for Exxon Mobile shareholders and that he will continue to do so as long as hes in office. So what are we to do when these politicians have vowed to do nothing and are reaping political benefits by their obstinacy?
While the Republican Party, driven by its own self-interest, is selling the birthright of our children for cheaper gasoline, mayors of coastal cities are now leading their constituents to make infrastructure changes to deal with climate change with little or no support from state or national sources. Seeing is believing. Mayors from Gulf coast villages, towns and cities are telling citizens that we have to deal with this and deal with it today.
Theres a bit of irony here for Texans that has perhaps gone unnoticed. Some of the worst flooding in recent years (and, perhaps, in the decades ahead) is in the very place where the first oil boom in the United States erupted in 1901. Spindletop changed everything for Texans. It certainly impacted my family my grandfather Pete Burleson and my dad Buster Burleson were employed by the Sun Oil Company for their entire adult lives. Like many Texans, our family owes the oil industry a lot; jobs are essential.
Then again, so is safe housing, clean water, toxic-free neighborhoods, safe food, clean air and common-sense safeguards against catastrophes that change lives forever. So we must change. And we must change now. If there is to be a future for us, we have to stop burning fossil fuels! And Central Texas must get ready for the high-tech energy boom that is already coming to cities such as San Antonio, Midland and Abilene.
The future is closer than you think the only question is what kind of future it will be. And that is up to us.
This summer my first grandchildren were born. Josie and Grant are seventh-generation Texans. Both of them will live through Americas 21st century. What will Texas be like for them in 80 years? What will Texas be like for your children, for your grandchildren, for your great-grandchildren in the year 2100?
If we do nothing, if we put our heads in the Texas sand as is currently the practice of Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, Congressman Flores and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott the Texas future greeting coming generations is very likely to be bleak. Exaggeration? Hyperbole? Are you really willing to bet the lives of your progeny on the truthfulness of Fox News, the alt-right and the Republican Party? Or will you trust the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community?
Central Texans are often said to be family-oriented, independent and conservative. My hope is that, before long, we are going to turn out the party that thrives on fake news and denial of hard evidence to protect our families, our independence and to conserve our beautiful Texas.
Enough already! We must move into the future and move now.
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Westpac and ANZ have followed the Commonwealth Bank in axing fees for customers of other institutions using their ATMs to withdraw cash.
"Australians have complained for some time about being charged fees for using another bank's ATM," CBA's group executive, retail banking services, Matt Comyn, said in a statement on Sunday.
"As Australia's largest bank, with one of the largest branch and ATM networks, we think this change will benefit many Australians and hopefully demonstrate our willingness to listen and act on customer feedback."
By lunchtime on Sunday, Westpac had announced it was following suit. The bank's group executive for consumer relations, George Frazis, said non-Westpac Group customers would no longer be charged an ATM withdrawal fee when they used one of Westpac Group's 2925 ATMs.
Exxon Mobil shares have declined more than 11 per cent this year at a time of weak energy prices. Credit:AP So at my request, he updated his calculations through December 2016 and provided fresh rankings in his paper Do Stocks Outperform Treasury Bills. We've reproduced the crucial elements here, with an important revision: Today, in the iPhone's 10th anniversary year, Apple is No. 1. In a phone conversation, Bessembinder reminded me that the stock market is a moving target and that his rankings, while valid through the end of 2016, don't capture the sharp movements of this calendar year. Facebook, which started trading in June 2012, is the youngest on the list, with an annualised return of 34.5 per cent. Credit:AP In his 2016 rankings, Exxon Mobil, not Apple, appears at the top, with net wealth creation of more than $US1 trillion ($1.24 trillion). Apple lags at about $US745 billion.
But it has been a wild year. Exxon Mobil shares have declined more than 11 per cent at a time of weak energy prices, while Apple, which just introduced a raft of new iPhones, is on a spectacular stock surge, gaining more than 37 per cent. It's remarkable that Apple has generated so much wealth in such a short period of time. Professor Hendrik Bessembinder Run the numbers as I did, and it's clear that at this moment, Apple has pulled ahead of Exxon Mobil, with total net wealth creation of somewhere in the vicinity of $US1 trillion. Counting dividends, Exxon Mobil's losses in the stock market have reduced its total to a bit over $US910 billion. (Note that, as a technical matter, Bessembinder defines net wealth creation as total stock returns in excess of one-month Treasury bill returns, which averaged an annualised 3.38 per cent, so the actual stock returns for Apple, Exxon, and the others are even higher than indicated.) "It's remarkable that Apple has generated so much wealth in such a short period of time," he said. "Exxon has had decades to pile up those returns."
Exxon is among the top wealth-creating companies that have been publicly trading - under the name of a predecessor, Standard Oil of New Jersey - since the inception of Bessembinder's tally in July 1926. Others include General Electric, IBM, Altria, Coca-Cola, DuPont, PepsiCo and Schlumberger. He relied on a database developed at the University of Chicago, known as CRSP, for the Center for Research in Security Prices, which contains virtually all publicly traded stocks in the United States. The Center for Research uses rigorous and logical criteria to determine when stocks enter and depart its listings, with some results that may seem surprising at first glance. General Motors, for example, ranks eighth. It was publicly traded in 1926, but the list says it ceased to exist in June 2009. A company called General Motors exists today, of course, but as Chloe Fu, senior support and relationship manager at the Center for Research in Security Prices, explained it, GM's bailout and bankruptcy led the centre to declare the old company terminated, with a new GM coming to life in June 2009. Consequently, the new GM returns aren't included in the total for GM on the list. The list is a fascinating ranking of big winners in the stock market. But for a variety of technical reasons, it isn't a straightforward table of the greatest wealth generators in market history. For example, the long-term gains generated by Exxon Mobil and its predecessors are understated because of the database's limited duration and strict criteria. Exxon Mobil's wealth in the list doesn't include Mobil's, which Bessembinder's listing says, ceased to exist in November 1999, when it merged with Exxon. And going back further, both Exxon and Mobil were among the descendants of the Standard Oil trust, established by John D. Rockefeller and his partners in the 19th century. The total wealth generated by the cluster of companies derived at least partially from the trust - which also include Amoco and Chevron - doesn't appear in a single notation because of the list's logic.
The listings for most of the recently created companies are less tangled. As I wrote in July, Amazon, which started trading in 1997, has soared to the 14th spot. Although it hasn't been in existence long compared with Exxon Mobil, its annualised return is the highest in the list, 37.4 per cent through December. A group of young companies have also had remarkable results. Facebook, which started trading in June 2012, is the youngest on the list, with an annualised return of 34.5 per cent. Visa, which had its initial public offering of stock in 2008, is the second-newest company, with a 21 per cent annualised return, followed by Alphabet (Google), ranked 11th, with a 24.9 per cent annualised return. And then there is that great wealth machine, Microsoft, ranked as the third-greatest wealth creator. Since 1986, it has had an annualised return of 25 per cent, making its founder, Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, with a net worth of more than $US87 billion, according to Bloomberg. No list of wealth-generating companies is complete without Berkshire Hathaway. It ranks 12th, just behind Alphabet, with an annualised return of 22.6 per cent. By comparison, Exxon Mobil's annualised return was only 11.94 per cent.
Anyone who invested in Apple or Microsoft or, really, in any of these companies at their inception and just held on did extraordinarily well. You might look at that record and conclude that you should just buy the best companies as a foolproof way to get rich. If only it were that easy. How do you find those companies? Not here. "The problem is, I have no idea which companies will generate the best returns over the next 10 or 20 or 30 years, " Bessembinder said. "Probably it will be some companies we've never heard of. Maybe it will be companies that don't even exist now." This list is worth studying for understanding the past.
A couple with two kids seems to be the cliched family make-up and for many also the ideal. It makes sense to have two kids you have created your replacements, your biological imperative is done. The children will have a sibling, and it seems everything including car size, accommodation, even travel seems to better cater for this family size. But then what if you throw another child into the mix by choice?
It's what my husband and I did. Last year we had our number three, and while it didn't make any sort of financial or logical sense, since we had him our family seems complete. It's a strange thing to admit, since having three children definitely takes a toll on your body not to mention your finances but a part of us felt we needed a third.
Saman Shad and her husband really wanted a third child, but it was about emotion not status. Credit:Edwina Pickles
We aren't unusual in this, the recent HILDA (Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia) survey found that by the time they are 40, most Australians wish they had more children than they actually have.
So what's stopping us having more kids? After all, Australia has had a declining fertility rate since the 1970s and we are still not at a replacement levels which means women are having fewer than two children on average. Is it because by the time we have one or two kids we realise the actual cost of having children, both financially and emotionally, which stops us having more?
Tens of thousands of marriage equality supporters kicked off a text message and doorknocking campaign this weekend encouraging people to vote "yes" in the same-sex marriage postal survey.
On Saturday, people started receiving text messages on their mobile phones from YesEquality, which stated: "The Marriage Equality Survey forms have arrived! Help make history and vote YES for a fairer Australia. VoteYes.org.au."
But not everyone regardless of their view on same-sex marriage was happy to receive an SMS, with some expressing concern about how their phone numbers were obtained.
It might sound like a tall tale but someone did actually go to great lengths to make it seem true.
WA Police have confirmed to WAtoday they were able to recover a 12-foot giraffe statue that was stolen from a Perth pet store on Saturday evening.
The stolen 12-foot statue that police recovered. Credit:WA Police
The towering fibre glass giraffe inexplicably went missing from the Bird and Fish Place pet store in Wattle Grove after the store closed, before staff realised and reported the theft to Cannington police officers.
Staff reported a hole in their back fence had been cut out by thieves in order to remove the giraffe, and the store offered a $3400 reward for its safe return.
Friends and family are rallying around a 16-year-old girl who is lucky to be alive after suffering a heart attack before she sat a Perth high school exam earlier this month.
Telita Calley, a student at Kingsway Christian College, was about to take her year 11 exams when a boy at her school asked her to the school ball.
Telita Calley is now in a stable condition after receiving surgery fitting her with an internal defibrillator. Credit:GoFundMe
"I had just been asked to the ball by this guy and I collapsed," she told 9 News Perth.
"I grabbed my friend's hand because I was so excited, and then I just kind of collapsed.
Melbourne: Accused Australian drug mule Cassie Sainsbury insists she has evidence of threats to kill her family - it's just that she can't remember how to unlock her mobile phone.
The 22-year-old Adelaide woman, nicknamed "Cocaine Cassie" was caught at Bogota's international airport in April, trying to smuggle 5.8kg of cocaine inside packages of headphones.
In an interview with Nine Network's 60 Minutes program, Sainsbury said she thought she had accepted a job as a legitimate courier transporting documents for $US10,000 plus flights, but plans changed at the last minute.
She was sent to Colombia where a "mastermind" known only as Angelo threatened via WhatsApp to kill her mum, sister and fiance if she did not transport his drugs.
Brighton: London's horror spate of terror attacks could have been much worse, mayor Sadiq Khan has said, revealing that police have foiled seven terror attacks in the British capital since March.
Mr Khan said the seven plots were in addition to the attacks at Westminster, Borough Market, Finsbury Park and Parsons Green that killed a total of 13 people, including two Australian women, Sara Zelenak and Kirsty Boden.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has renewed his call for more police resources in the British capital. Credit:Latika Bourke
"Between March this year and now, there have been four attacks but seven [more] have been thwarted," he said at an event on the sidelines of the Labour Party conference in Brighton.
In July, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police said authorities had foiled six plots in the four previous months.
Saturday in Clarksburg, wild and wonderful added to the local foods in West Virginia.
The Bridgeport Farmers Market held a wild and wonderful table. This was a night featuring local foods from local farmers with live music and cocktails.
Each course was made by a local culinary artist in the state. Tickets were $75 per person and couples $140. The money raised for the wild and wonderful table goes back towards the farmers market to help make local foods and products more available.
The event was hosted by the Raines family.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff
Sep. 23, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY
By West Kentucky Star Staff Sep. 23, 2017 | 07:55 PM | PADUCAH, KY
A Paducah man was arrested early Saturday morning after an attempted traffic stop and brief pursuit in the Farley area.
According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Department, a deputy tried to pull over a pickup truck for a traffic violation at 2:38 am near the intersection of Husband Road and Happy Hollow Drive. The driver, later identified as 34-year-old Kirk Brummett, reportedly accelerated and tried to elude the deputy. Deputies say Brummett turned off his headlights as he pulled onto Happy Hollow Drive, almost hitting another vehicle. The truck eventually stopped on Creekview Drive, but Brummett allegedly refused to obey repeated commands to get out. Deputies say they approached the pickup, removed Brummett, and took him into custody. Deputies say he was clearly under the influence of alcohol.
Brummett was charged with reckless driving, 1st degree fleeing or evading, DUI 2nd offense, resisting arrest, menacing, wanton endangerment, possession of an open alcoholic beverage in a vehicle, a blinker violation, and failure to wear a seatbelt. He was taken to McCracken County Detention Center.
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.
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Its no surprise that September brought out some smoltering heat in Mid-Michigan.
But that did not stop many spartans fans from tailgating.
And when it gets as hot as it did today, dehydration becomes a problem.
WILX Alani Letang went down to Spartan Stadium to ask people how they stay hydrated.
"We have fans, we have spritsers" said Chuck Fisher, MSU fan.
"Water, lots of water" said Kelli Zussman, MSU fan.
Fans say they're stocked up on water by the case load.
"Just making sure I get as much H20 into the system as I can" said MSU fan, Paul O'Connor.
And its important to always have on hand, even if you're just walking to the bathroom
"Outside its just great to have your water bottle with you and just go and drink some water on your way and walk back and then you can go and have your beer" said Kelli Zussman, MSU fan.
And while water is very important on a hot day,so is drinking alcoholic beverages in moderation and staying out of the sun.
Michigan State University Police Captian Doug Monette told me he is impressed with what he was seen so far.
"People have complied, they've planned ahead, they've had water, they're in the shade, and using sunblock" said MSU Police Capt. Monette.
Michigan State University Police have been advising people all week to consume lots of water and stay cool.
And fans here tell me their trick to battle dehydration.
"One bottle of water per every alcohol drink" Fisher said.
The words 90 degrees and September may not seem like they mesh well ,however tailgaters say they are ready for the sweat.
"It's game day we got to be ready for game day as much as I possibly can" Zussman said.
David Dulek doesnt want to give up his home.
His grandfather built the house a cream-colored, well-kept place on East Wabasha Street in the early 1950s, and members of the Dulek family have lived there ever since.
Dulek, who says he has a deep attachment to the house, purchased it in February, following the death of his grandmother.
However, Dulek is one of several property owners recently approached by Winona Area Public Schools, which is looking to purchase land for an expansion of Washington-Kosciusko Elementary School part of the districts $82 million facilities referendum.
The only way Dulek will agree to sell, he says, is if his neighbors sell too.
I wont hold things up if everyone else is on board, he said this week. Im pretty torn. I want the district to get their money, but I dont want to lose my house.
That reluctance is shared, in varying degrees, by others who own property north of W-K, right in the path of the districts planned expansion.
A homeowner who asked to remain anonymous said he would be open to selling on one condition.
We dont have any kids in the district, so were not opposed to it, the man said. But the offer has to be fair.
Another homeowner said she and her husband would rather not move. Theyve lived in their house for decades, she said, and dont want to sever their roots.
It would be tough, but it is what it is, the woman said. I just wish they would have gone with Jefferson. Its their biggest school, with the most greenspace.
Shes not alone.
In June, Winona school board members voted 4-3 to close Jefferson and Madison elementary schools, moving those students to either W-K or Goodview. (As part of the plan, Rollingstone Community Elementary School would also stay open, although the districts 1,000 elementary students could fit inside W-K and Goodview.)
Community members and some board members have said the district is making a mistake, that its irrational to vacate the districts largest elementary site in the city Jefferson sits on 12.5 acres while sending 500-plus students to W-K.
I dont think 575 students on 2.2 acres is a good idea, board member Jay Kohner said at a recent meeting. Theres no guarantee were going to get any more land. Even if we get the whole block, youd still have 575 students on 4.5 acres. Its just not a good location.
District officials confirmed this week that theyre in ongoing talks with property owners near W-K, including the owner of Bobs Home Heating and Cooling, the only commercial property eyed by the district.
John Meier, owner and service technician at Bobs, said hes firmly against selling both for the well-being of his business, and the well-being of students.
I have a good location here visibility for signage, right on the main drag and it would be one less headache staying put, he said. As a small business owner, its hard. Youre running a business, and you have these big guys pounding on your door. It feels like youre getting bullied.
Its not a good environment for a school or a playground, he added. Traffic is really bad. People are always screaming off Broadway and Mankato. Theres a lot of noise.
I feel that its a bad decision.
According to documents the district submitted to the state, W-K, even after the expansion, would be small and crowded. It would sit on 2.6 acres with the additional land, well short of the states 10-plus-acre recommendation for elementary schools.
Despite W-Ks small footprint, Brenda Cassellius, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Education, gave a positive review and comment of the districts facilities plan last month a necessary step before the referendum Nov. 7.
In its submission to the state, the district also described property owners as amenable to selling their land.
But that willingness if it exists at all could be due to a sense of resignation.
In Minnesota, any school district with the authority to purchase land or buildings without voter approval also has the power to condemn and claim properties of its choosing, whether or not the property owners agree to sell.
Superintendent Rich Dahman said the district has no plans to use eminent domain That option is not being investigated, he said but property owners are leery.
They say they feel the districts legal power hanging over them, ready to be used if necessary.
I dont think we can stop it, one homeowner said. Theyre going to take it one way or the other.
I wont hold things up if everyone else is on board. Im pretty torn. I want the district to get their money, but I dont want to lose my house. David Dulek
Winona native Robert Ries on Saturday jumped into a crowded Democratic-Farmer-Labor primary field for Minnesotas 1st Congressional District.
Ries, a U.S. Navy veteran and a political newcomer, hopes to campaign on a promise of A Fairer Deal. He has had held positions in the military, education and private business sector, perspectives that he believes would make him an effective representative todays government.
I know economics, I can explain it to people, Ries said. I dont think any of the other candidates have my background to be able to explain that.
Ries priorities include protecting seniors on medicaid, giving a fairer tax deal to everybody, and to increase jobs by raising the minimum wage and funding infrastructure.
He stands against the Trump administrations moves to cut funding to Medicaid.
The cuts to Medicaid could devastate senior health care, Ries said.
Ries said the Democratic party is in need of strong leadership to push back against the Trump agenda.
With principles of fairness, honor, respect for all people, respect for the law, responsible management and fiscal responsibility, Ries believes he is the best person to represent the 1st District.
Ries stands for withdrawing troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, a belief in the science of climate change, scrapping tax loopholes such as the oil depletion allowance, a 25-cent fuel surtax for four years to upgrade roads and bridges, and finally, not building a giant wall along the Mexico border.
Ries was raised in Winona and graduated from Winona Senior High School and Winona State University. He has a masters degree in business administration from the University of Chicago, and has taught economics at both Winona State and what is now known as Minnesota State College Southeast.
Ries served in the U.S. Navy for four years as a commissioned officer and was stationed Mediterranean Sea and in London. Hes also held a number of management positions but has decided to come out of retirement due to his concern for the country.
The DFL field includes former state senator Vicki Jensen and Dan Feehan, an Iraq War veteran and former Obama administration official Dan Feehan. Other declared candidates include Joe Sullivan, Regina Mustafa, Johnny Akzam, Colin Minehart and Rich Wright.
Incumbent Rep. Tim Walz announced he will not run for re-election to focus on running for governor.
The lone Republican candidate is Jim Hagedorn, who lost to Walz in 2014 and 2016. Republicans see the seat as one they can steal in 2018, given the surprisingly close margin of defeat for Hagedorn in 2016.
If I could debate Hagedorn, Id destroy him, Ries said.
WASHINGTON If youre a glutton for punishment, youve been watching Ken Burns The Vietnam War series on PBS. If youre a glutton for punishment, you also watched Donald Trumps speech at the United Nations threatening to destroy North Korea.
Wow. We have learned nothing!
During the Vietnam War, as now, America was frighteningly divided. It was a bitter, hateful, destructive period.
Burns series, of course, is compelling and beautifully done. It is also extremely painful to watch. The senseless killing and maiming. The merciless bombings. The stupid miscalculations of politicians who didnt understand the ramifications of what they didnt understand and their actions in sending thousands of young Americans into incomprehensible horror. The cover-ups to protect egos.
Ask Sen. John McCain, the Republican senator who was imprisoned and tortured by the North Vietnamese. Theres a man who understands, who trembles that we havent learned Vietnams lessons. A patriot whom Trump ridiculed for being captured. Trump, who didnt serve in Vietnam because of bone spurs. Yeah, his feet hurt.
What was the cost of Vietnam? The loss of 58,000 Americans. The deaths of 3.6 million Vietnamese. An entire generation lost respect for government and civility. And confidence the U.S. would always do the right thing. If you havent been to see the Vietnam War memorial in Washington, go.
After Vietnam, the shining city on the hill was, well, heartbreakingly dimmed. As painful as it is to remember, we must.
Many Americans are too young to understand that we also fought in Korea after North Korea invaded the South. We lost 37,000 Americans. Nearly 8,000 are missing. More than 100,000 were wounded. More than 2 million Koreans died as well as 600,000 Chinese soldiers who fought on North Koreas side. It ended with an armistice; no real end.
Are we going to war again on the Korean peninsula? I dont think so but I dont know. Nobody does. Could we be so egregiously wrong again as we were in Vietnam? Yes, I fear we could be.
The origins of U.S. involvement in Vietnam went back to Woodrow Wilson. One of those presidents who has a lot to answer for.
Now, in 2017, a new president went before the U.N., a body dedicated to peace and conflict resolution, an organization whose first war was in Korea, and he taunted, like a junior high school bully, the leader of North Korea as Rocket Man. Then Trump threatened to totally destroy North Korea. The country!
Kim Jong Un is, of course, as unsuited to be a leader as Trump is. But youd think the United States would be a little more adult than North Koreas mop-topped, self-indulgent despot in this tense situation. Shouldnt the objective be avoiding more death and destruction?
When Trump urged every nation to serve its own interests first before considering the good of mankind (shades of Germany in the 30s), the U.N. response was stunned incomprehension and nervous disbelief.
You could see the fear and uncertainty in the eyes of the envoys, trapped between their translating earphones. Seeking stability and a plan for peace from the U.S., they heard incoherence, contradiction and narcissistic arrogance.
Rarely, OK, never in modern history, has the United States been more embarrassed on the world stage because of its president. (Slavery will always be our permanent stain, but inciting an unstable, paranoid nut case to use nukes ranks high on the list of unforgivable, felonious misbehaviors.)
Strangely, Iran pinpointed what may be the most frightening Trump legacy to date. When Trump threatened to walk away from the six-nation agreement that decreed Iran give up its nuclear ambitions, and when he left the worldwide agreement recognizing climate change as a global threat, Trump basically told the world that the United States is not to be trusted to keep its word.
Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime, Trump declared about Kim Jong Un.
Youd think that before threatening the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people and possibly even nuclear war, Trump would understand that the million-man North Korean army is as dedicated to its countrys survival and sovereignty as North Vietnams was.
U.S. leaders were warned about catastrophe in Vietnam and ignored the warning.
If Trump knew anything about history, hed be far less flippant about threatening war.
A former hospital and convent would be razed and replaced by senior apartments under a proposal that has won a preliminary nod from the Baraboo Plan Commission.
Horizon Design Build Manage of Madison hopes to rent 40 units in a three-story, $7.3 million facility to be built at 1208 Oak St. First, the firm would tear down the former St. Marys Ringling Manor, a notable site that has become an eyesore and a haven for unsavory activity.
We thought it would be best to scrape that site and start over, Horizon development manager Scott Kwiecisnski said.
The Plan Commission gave Horizon thumbs up Tuesday, directing the firm to return with a development plan. From there, the Plan Commission would forward a zoning recommendation to the City Council. Meanwhile, the city, county and state must work through the thorny issue of the propertys ownership.
I like it, Commissioner Pat Liston said of Horizons plan. Youve done a lot of ground work.
Horizon hopes to break ground on Oak Hill Senior Apartments in April 2019 and open the facility in April 2020. Its plan calls for a three-story building with underground parking offering 700-square-foot one-bedroom apartments and 975-square-foot two-bedroom apartments for residents 55 and older. Rent would cost $330-780 for one-bedroom units and $690-910 for two-bedroom units, based on tenants income. Thirty-four apartments would be leased at 30-60 percent of Sauk Countys median income, with the other six leased at 80 percent of the countys median income.
The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority would serve as the projects financing vehicle, offering tax credits for affordable housing construction. The apartments would be leased by residents with an income range of $14,000-$28,000 for single residents and $16,000-$32,000 for couples.
We would like to see something on that street corner, Commissioner Roy Franzen said.
Kwiecinski said the sites proximity to parks, stores and services is ideal. We really cant think of a better location, he said. We think this is a great community and a great project.
Horizon will present its plan to the facilitys neighbors in October. An application for WHEDA funding is due in December.
Ownership question
This proposal may spur the city, county and state to determine how the property can be conveyed to Horizon. Built in 1945 by the Ringling circus family, the facility has housed a hospital, a nursing home and a convent. But it has been vacant for 20 years, raided by vandals and graffiti artists despite police efforts to secure the building. The property had been owned by an estate that went broke, and has been tax-insolvent since 2007.
It eventually was transferred to the state, which is acting like a lost-and-found bin, taking custody of the property but not owning it. All parties are eager to wash their hands of the property, which is $73,000 in arrears on taxes.
Right now nobody even knows who owns it, City Engineer Tom Pinion said.
City leaders discussed petitioning the county to take the property back and donate it to the city, which could in turn hand it to Horizon. We dont want to end up owning that building, Pinion said.
The decaying building contains asbestos, and its roof leaks. It has been boarded up since 2012. It needs to come down, Liston said.
Previous plans to address the eyesore involved the city razing the building, conducting environmental cleanup through a state grant, and selling the property as residential lots to recoup costs. A 2016 study indicated the likely presence of hazardous material. Cleanup costs have been estimated at $500,000. Horizon will turn to state grant programs and other sources to pay for remediation.
The propertys original structure was built in 1898 as the home of Della Ringling. In 1922, it was donated to the Sisters of St. Marys, who converted it into a 25-bed hospital. In 1945, a three-story addition was built, and the original Ringling home was demolished. After St. Clare Hospital opened in 1963, the building was converted into a nursing home, St. Marys Ringling Manor, which was licensed for 71 beds. It then became a convent for the Franciscan Sisters of St. Marys until 1997, when the building closed for good.
In 2004, Joseph Harrington bought the property with hopes of turning it into senior housing, but that project fell through. He died in 2010. Four years later, a judge ordered the state to take custody of the property, through the Department of Revenues unclaimed property fund.
Standing inside a cramped visitors booth at the Dane County Jail, a handcuffed Joseph Jakubowski allowed his mind to drift back to the moment last April, during his 10-day run from the law, when he says he shot a wild turkey in the woods somewhere in western Wisconsin.
The 33-year-old self-proclaimed anarchist from Janesville smiled as he closed one eye, cocked his head and made a clicking sound to mimic gunfire coming from an assault rifle one of more than a dozen guns he admits he stole a few days earlier from a Janesville gun shop.
Those were the best days of my life, said Jakubowski, then the subject of one of the largest manhunts in Wisconsin history after he mailed an anti-government manifesto to President Donald Trump, stole the weapons, burned his truck and disappeared on April 4. For once in my life I was free. Nobody told me what I had to do. All I had to do was wake up and live.
With his trial scheduled to begin Monday in federal court in Madison, Jakubowski said he has mixed feelings about how his attempt to escape the law and get off the grid ended with his capture without incident on a bluff in Vernon County on April 14.
A self-taught and streetwise craftsman and roofer, Jakubowski is proud of how he was able to publicize his anger and frustration toward the U.S. government. But sounding almost wistful, he says he would have preferred dying in a hail of bullets in a battle with police. Better that, he said, than the prison sentence that awaits if hes convicted in federal court as well as the state charges he faces at a trial in Rock County Circuit Court in October.
I didnt go into it planning to die; that would be suicide, he said. But on the other hand, I havent been afraid of dying for a long time. How can you value life when youre told what to do for your entire life?
The number of guns Jakubowski is accused of stealing has varied since his arrest, but federal prosecutors now say there are 12 guns unaccounted for, including one high-priced assault rifle. Jakubowski said he no plans to give any details about the missing guns other than to say he buried them.
Some law enforcement officials and others speculate Jakubowski used some of the stolen guns to pay for transportation out of the area. But Jakubowski said his plan was to walk to North Dakota, where he hoped to drop out of society and give up things like money or cellphones. As he began his trek, he said, he traveled through fields and along the edges of woods with the help of an old atlas and a compass.
He said he got a ride at one point he wouldnt give a mileage estimate from a person who didnt recognize him, never entered a single building and walked near populated areas only at night.
But the hike took a toll. The two heavy backpacks he carried as well as a duffel bag in which he said he kept the stolen guns eventually wore him down.
He also had to forage for food because the apples, oranges and noodles he brought with him lasted just a couple of days. I was exhausted at the end, mainly because I was so hungry, he said.
Jeffrey Gorn, a retired school superintendent who had spent a career as a guidance counselor and clinical psychologist, would later discover the fugitive camping on his land April 13. After a lengthy, often fraught, encounter, Gorn extracted himself and called police, who arrested Jakubowski the next day. Although he had five guns and a samurai sword with him, he surrendered without incident.
The silence following Jakubowskis disappearance stoked fears that he was plotting an attack, Rock County Sheriff Bob Spoden said. In the days after the burglary, law enforcement from every level of government was mobilized, schools and churches were closed and a national media frenzy had everyone on edge because nobody knew what Jakubowski was going to do, including Jakubowski, Spoden said.
Spoden, who believes Jakubowski either sold the stolen guns that are still missing or threw them in a river to lighten his load, says he thinks Jakubowski was truthful when he said he just wanted to live on his own, free from other people and money.
He couldve done that without stealing the guns and nobody would know where he is right now, which is exactly what he says he wanted, Spoden said.
Seemed suicidal
Two days before Jakubowski disappeared, Renata Hackl, the owner of the Drunken Monkey bar on Janesvilles West Side where Jakubowski was a regular, said she confronted him because she thought he seemed suicidal.
He had been coming into the bar about four times a week and then last October he stopped coming. Then he shows up again in March but hes real quiet and deep in thought, she said. Then, out of the blue, right before he disappeared, hes all happy-go-lucky like he just won the lottery. Thats exactly what they tell you to look for in somebody who is suicidal.
When Jakubowski told her in an excited tone, Theres going to be a change, Hackl said she asked him several times if that meant he was contemplating suicide. He said, Id never do that, Hackl said.
Hackl said she was stunned to learn later that Jakubowski was accused of burglarizing the Armageddon Supplies gun shop and feared he was planning to commit suicide by cop. I thought, This is going to end very badly, she said.
Hackl still harbors a soft spot for Jakubowski after she said he looked after her youngest son, Rudy, who worked as a roofer with Jakubowski.
My son was wearing the wrong kind of shoes so Joe went out and bought him $300 boots to make sure he was safe, Hackl said. Thats the kind of guy he is.
But, she said, Jakubowski still needs a kick in the ass for what he did.
I dont know what happened, but its clear he needs a psychologists help, she said.
Wired differently
Jakubowski says he cant remember a time when people didnt call him crazy or socially awkward. But he says he has never been treated for a mental disorder or taken any medication for one. Ive always prided myself on being different, he said.
Since his arrest in April, Jakubowski claims he has disowned his mother and stepfather and hasnt communicated with any other family members for months. He says he doesnt read books, has never watched television and has been a loner for much of his life because people can scramble his thoughts. He prefers to form opinions and gain knowledge by observing.
I just think, he says.
Robert Schug, an assistant professor of criminology, criminal justice and forensic psychology at California State University, Long Beach, said Jakubowski comes across as having a schizotypal personality disorder.
Schizotypal people are kind of odd, kind of magical thinking and have unconventional beliefs, Schug said. These people are sometimes the UFO fanatics or conspiracy theorists. Their brains, because of the way they are wired, think about things differently. Its like they are putting the pieces of the puzzle together like we all are but they are missing pieces, and they make inferences without getting facts.
While people with schizotypal personality disorders often come across as defiant, their thoughts and decisions are typically rooted in fear, Schug said.
They are afraid of losing control of their lives, he said. In my opinion, guys like (Jakubowskis), as long as they arent hurting anybody, should go live in the woods. Be the artist. Hes probably a tremendously talented artist. Hes right-brained, probably with raw artistic talent, I would imagine.
Jakubowskis writings and his decision to steal guns in a bid to take on the U.S. government is all part of how hes compensating for feeling small and insignificant, probably because of his background, Schug said.
Left home at 13
Jakubowski said he left home when he was 13 after repeated fights with his mother and stepfather, which he said included beatings. Shortly thereafter he started selling drugs, which introduced him to a new level of violence.
After he attacked a Janesville police officer in 2008, Jakubowski became a two-time felon and was ordered to get help for his anger and drinking problems.
Although he would go on to forge a career as a roofer, crafting jewelry and furniture and doing custom work on vehicles and motorcycles, Jakubowskis violent past combined with threats he made in his manifesto to resist authorities with force fed the image of him as a public menace after the theft and disappearance.
But Jakubowski said he was crushed to learn after his arrest that schools and churches around Janesville closed during the manhunt because they were told he may be targeting them.
That was contradictory to what I was doing, he insisted. Anybody who knows me knows I wouldnt hurt a child or anybody in a church.
Get ready to see me
When Jakubowski started writing the 161-page manifesto last October, he said he had just hurt his back, lost his job as a roofer and had to move in with his sister because he could no longer pay the rent on his apartment.
Deep down he was probably feeling insecure and scared and his way of projecting strength is to be the anti-government guy, Schug said. It makes sense to him and he can have control over it.
By the time he finished it in mid-March, Jakubowski said, he had decided on making a statement that couldnt be ignored.
I made it very clear I was going to do it, too, said Jakubowski. I was telling everybody: Get ready to see me in the news because Im picking a fight with the government.
Stealing the guns was central to the plan. He said he wanted to show how the federal law forbidding felons from owning a gun was proof the government was corrupt. I have the right to defend myself, he said.
But he may not have the right to argue that at his trial.
In anticipation of Jakubowski seeking to use the trial as his personal soapbox, prosecutors have asked the judge to block him from introducing testimony or prior statements like his manifesto to argue he stole the guns to protect himself from a broken system. They said he doesnt meet any of the requirements needed for such a defense.
Still, Jakubowski who has already shown his contempt for judges in his earlier courtroom appearances is hoping he can make his case. He said he has told his attorney, Joe Bugni, to ignore any plea deals.
I wont submit to this government. I refuse, he said.
A Madison-area startup hopes it can revolutionize an industry by jet-propelling salt.
SaltCo promises its customers homeowners and businesses will never have to physically handle another bag of salt when refilling brine tanks for water softeners.
To accomplish this, the Prairie du Sac-based company has built a custom delivery truck that shoots salt through a dedicated piping system into the tank.
A sensor then monitors the levels and lets drivers know when a customer needs to be topped off.
When the tank gets low, were on the go, said CEO Dave Gerry. Were going to head out and take care of that customer, and the customer does nothing.
To make the system possible, the company installs two 3-inch PVC plastic pipes leading from the exterior of a building to the salt tank. One line acts as a delivery conduit where air from the truck forces salt through the pipe.
The other line, the return pipe, is an outlet for the air to travel back to the truck. This creates a closed-loop system, which eliminates pressure buildup and allows for the salt to drop directly into a tank without creating dust, said President Mark Landgraf, who said he brought the idea for the company to Gerry.
A delivery driver attaches hoses from the truck to the intake and outtake ports and blasts in salt at 100 pounds per minute.
It really is revolutionizing a delivery system for one product: salt, said Landgraf, who founded Landgraf Construction.
Making it a reality
In January, the company started working hard on its research and development and finalized a delivery vehicle in June, built on the chassis of a Dodge Ram 5500 heavy-duty pickup truck with a hopper that can hold 10,000 pounds of salt.
Gerry, who also owns the Princeton Club gyms, said more than $1 million had been invested during that phase.
He brought on his son, Teddy Gerry, to invent the mechanical components. The biggest breakthrough, the younger Gerry said, happened when the team came up with the closed-loop system. A test with only a pipe to let air in ended with an expanding tank and a bang.
All of a sudden, it just blew, and it sounded like a shotgun going off, said the younger Gerry, who is the vice president.
While he worked on the systems muscles, Craig Detter joined the team to develop its brains as the chief technology officer. With a background of working for Google and Motorola, Detter made a sensor that communicates the salt levels through a dedicated 3G or Wi-Fi network to SaltCo. The company then knows when a refill is needed and electronically sends an invoice to its customers.
Various components of SaltCos system are patent pending.
Im convinced it works exactly the way its supposed to, Dave Gerry said.
Step Saver Inc., a company in Morton, Minnesota, began a similar business that pumps salt directly to tanks in 1995. President Chuck Steffl said the business has licensing agreements in six states and thousands of customers.
In lieu of the electronic monitoring SaltCo uses, Steffl said, Step Saver schedules refills based on salt consumption and tank capacity.
Finding a customer base
Both commercial businesses and personal residences are being targeted as potential users. The former is charged $30 per month and the latter $15 per month as a subscription fee, with which installation costs are waived.
The customer must also pay for salt itself, the price of which varies depending on the volume purchased.
Dan Olszewski, director of UW-Madisons Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship, said the biggest challenges startup companies face are finding its target user and effectively marketing to them.
That is especially true for this product, or service, because its something that clearly is valuable to the right customer, but for a lot of customers they might say, Its not that big of a deal, getting salt is not a big problem for me, Olszewski said.
Its important for SaltCo to look for the people who are most affected by physically filling tanks, he said, such as businesses that use large quantities and people who might have physical difficulties.
Your initial customer is usually someone who has the biggest pain point with the current system, Olszewski said.
Currently, SaltCo has nine vehicles and 11 employees to service around 50 residential and commercial customers. The first customers were largely friends and family of those involved to ensure the system worked properly, Dave Gerry said.
SaltCo installed a system at Blessed Sacrament Parish and School on Madisons Near West Side this summer. Landgraf, a longtime parishioner there, brought the concept forward to a committee hes involved with that oversees the grounds.
Andrew Henter, the parishs director of buildings and grounds, said he was intrigued by the service. Its building is heated by steam, and soft water is needed to keep the system running properly. The service saves him from carrying hundreds of pounds of salt and monitoring the tanks level, Henter said.
It sounds like a goofy thing to get excited about, water softener salt, but being in facilities management, maintaining that water quality saves you a lot in the long run, he said.
Although it is still establishing a foothold in the Madison area, the company already has set its sights beyond the Badger State. Dave Gerry said there are people interested in franchising the business in Minnesota, Arizona, California, Texas and Illinois.
Were set to do this in a very big way. Our goal is go across the United States, he said. Once you see it and you realize it works, its just a matter of repeating it.
Environmental benefits
Gerry sees environmental benefits to the business. He estimates that one truck could prevent 100,000 plastic bags from entering a landfill per year by distributing the salt in bulk.
SaltCo has a 15,000-square-foot facility in Sauk City that holds its installation supplies and the salt.
Landgraf said the plan is to have people come to the location for a weeklong training session to learn how to assemble the system, operate a truck and market the service.
Thats ultimately the goal, Landgraf said. To have people from all over the country come and learn how to do this.
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Media students make the top three in national youth film competition
This article is old - Published: Sunday, Sep 24th, 2017
Coleg Cambria Creative Media students made it to the last three in an anti-tobacco and anti-smoking short film competition run by Cut Films aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of smoking amongst 11-25 year olds.
The National Cut Film Awards 2017 received over 300 videos within the differing age categories. The competition involves creating an anti-smoking video to persuade young people not to smoke.
The team from the Creative Media Production course at Coleg Cambria which included Nathan Knifton, Liam Williams, Xena Bush and Ieuan Tarran made it into the top three in the 19-21 category for their short film Make The Right Choice.
Hosted by Cut Films and Roy Castle Foundation, the event was held in the Curzon cinema in Soho, London where the students were privileged to have a Q&A session with the writer of Eastenders to gain industry insight.
James Smith, Cambria Media Tutor said: I am so proud of the hard work the students have put into this competition. Over 300 videos entered and to be nominated and bring home a trophy is a huge and well deserved success.
New junior doctor reveals why she chose Wrexham to start her career in medicine
This article is old - Published: Sunday, Sep 24th, 2017
An aspiring Emergency Medicine Medic has revealed why she chose Wrexham to start her career in medicine.
Collette Cook 25, from Bristol studied at Cardiff University and is one of the new crop of junior doctors at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
In her third year she ended up training in the Wrexham Maelor following an Erasmus medical placement in Nantes, France. It was her experience of life as a student medic at hospital made her want to apply to become a junior doctor in Wrexham.
Collette explained that it was the training at the hospital and its environment that made her want to kick start her career here.
I liked Wrexham so much that I did what I could to get back there, she said.
We are allocated hospital placements at university so I would just swap placements with people who had Wrexham on their list so I could get back there.
The staff in Wrexham are just so friendly and it makes you want to keep going back. The teaching is really excellent too we are really lucky here.
When I was on placements, the training I had was quite varied and thats something I enjoy, you have a good mix of hands on medicine and then complex clinical cases too.
The teaching is always quite interactive and we are taught a lot by other junior doctors. They are only one year ahead of us so we can ask them lots of questions.
Doctor Fiona Rae has been amazing at teaching she is the honorary senior lecturer. She is an Emergency Department consultant and I want to be as good as her one day.
Collette is one of 19 Cardiff University students who have become junior doctors at Wrexham Maelor this year. All 19 completed training placements at the hospital and their experience led them to want to return to work as qualified doctors.
In the Wrexham Maelor Hospital, junior doctors get the option to secure a spot in the area of medicine they want to specialise, something which was very important to Collette.
The third strand option we get at Wrexham really made me want to come here as I want to be an Emergency Department doctor so I think the fact that I could pick a department as an option was really good for me. Its not something you can do at other hospitals, she explained.
I think emergency medicine suits me and I really want to specialise in this area of medicine, I need something thats fast paced, Im not very good at sitting still so I think anything thats GP related Id struggle with as I cant sit in a chair for very long.
With emergency medicine, you just never know what is going to walk through the door, its quite exciting and I like that it suits me.
Hopefully I will be a good junior doctor. I hope that it goes well, I feel like I know what Im doing and Wrexham has been great in preparing me for the next stage.
She also praised the staff at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital for their friendly approach and said that she felt protected as a junior doctor working in Wales.
Collette said: The Maelor is the friendliest hospital I have been to. You feel like there is less of a separation between junior doctors and consultants, you feel like you really are part of the team and they make you feel so welcome, I feel lucky to work here.
I wanted to work in Wales because I didnt want the junior doctor contract changes and because I loved my placements so much, I knew Id like it here.
As a junior doctor I feel more protected in Wales going into the profession. Its an advantage working in Wales.
Ive been to Bangor, Swansea and Cardiff but I have loved coming back to Wrexham.
Wrexham is a great place to be because you have the town itself, but you are also near other places like Chester and Liverpool so theres lots to do.
She added: To anyone thinking of coming to work in Wrexham as a medic? Id definitely recommend it.
We need to take control of youth justice says North Wales PCC
This article is old - Published: Sunday, Sep 24th, 2017
The Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales has called for youth justice to be devolved to Wales.
Arfon Jones spoke out following the appointment of the most senior judge in England and Wales to head up a review of how the justice system works in Wales.
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, who retires in October, will chair the Welsh Governments Commission on Justice in Wales.
According to First Minister Carwyn Jones, there was a need to improve access to justice and to reduce crime with a system truly representative of Welsh needs.
At the moment Welsh courts are part of the same system and jurisdiction as Englands and are under the control of Westminster, even though the Welsh Assembly has been able to legislate in areas of policy since 2011.
The commissioner said: I welcome Lord Justice Thomass appointment following his distinguished service as Lord Chief Justice.
Wales already has a distinct body of law and operates on an All Wales basis with a High Court and high performing local jurisdictions.
There are a number of issues which I would like to see as Police and Crime Commissioner and Chair of North Wales Local Criminal Justice Board be devolved to Wales.
Chief amongst them is the devolvement of Youth Justice which is the only childrens service in Wales that is not devolved.
I would also like to see a law change whereby the Welsh Government would have more flexibility to introduce harm reduction measures for problematic drug use as they do with alcohol.
I also believe that more victim and witness services should be devolved as we need to provide a Welsh language service, a priority that is rarely on the Ministry of Justices radar.
The First Minister said: In Wales, we have had a separate legislature for six years but, as yet, we do not have our own jurisdiction.
By establishing the Commission on Justice in Wales, we are taking an important first step towards developing a distinctive justice system which is truly representative of Welsh needs.
Carmarthen-born Lord Thomas added Wales offers unique opportunities to identify new solutions to the complex challenges facing justice and the legal profession.
Jamie Muffett shows the root system of a marijuana plant grown without soil at Sticky Budz near Zillah, Wash., on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic file)
In the eight months since the beginning of its term, the Trump administration has been having trouble translating promises for far-reaching changes in American Middle-East policy into a broad strategy with clear foundations for advancing a series of moves that would make it possible to reach the declared objectives.
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The sigh of relief heard in Middle Eastern countries following President Donald Trumps decision to begin his first foreign trip with a visit to Saudi Arabia and Israel, after the US lost its position as a leading power in the region during the Obama era, has been replaced with sighs of disappointment and fear that the administration is incapable of creating a fundamental change in American involvement in the region, and is perhaps unwilling to do so.
As time goes by, the charm of the unpredictable and threatening president appears to have expired. If at first it seemed that alongside impressive declarations we would also witness new initiatives that would allay the US allies fears, it soon turned out that apart from expanding military moves to defeat the Islamic State, the administration lacks the motivation and courage to deal with the challenges created by a complex regional reality.
Trump and Netanyahu. The establishment of a narrative that the US administration is weak and hesitant could harm crucial Israeli interests in the long run
The reasons for this situation may lie, of course, in the administrations need to deal with internal American crises and with a series of significant challenges in other areas in the world, such as North Korea.
The impression, however, is that the administration gave up too soon in light of Irans ongoing presence in the main areas of conflict, primarily in Syria, where the US is also accepting Russian preeminence in determining the countrys security and political agenda. The promises to create a broad Arab front are also collapsing in light of the conflict between Americas allies in the Gulf, which American officials are having trouble solving.
The US administrations current efforts to form a policy on the nuclear agreement are another reflection of the confusion of professionals who are now forced to come up with ideas for an action plan before mid-October (when the administration must report to Congress whether Iran is complying with the agreement). This brainstorming is required to try to find a way to square the circle. On the one hand, it should cater to Trumps interest in cancelling the agreement, one of the main legacies left by his predecessor in the White House, which he has so far failed to change. On the other hand, it should minimize the potential damages to the US: Being blamed for the agreements failure, being isolated and experiencing a further decline in its relations with its European allies.
The US ambassadors failed efforts to convince UN inspectors to demand a visit to Irans military sites, and to use Irans expected refusal to declare the agreements cancellation, demonstrate the administration is well aware of the fact it has no technological smoking gun available. Even if the administration decides to inform Congress that Iran is not complying with the agreement, and launch a 60-day period (as required by law) for an internal American discourse until Congress reaches a decision, the frosty relationship between Trumps administration and the Europeans and Russians will likely make it impossible to reach agreements on the P5+1 axis (the five permanent Security Council members and Germany), which will help create a united front against Iran.
Such a development likely wont receive the support of the rest of the countries involved in the nuclear agreement, which made their objection to the move clear in light of economic deals that have already been signed with Iran. It could create a crisis between the US and its European partners, as well as a crisis with Russia and China. The results of this crisis could have far-reaching implications on the international arena.
As far as Israel is concerned, even if the two countries share the same goals and interests in some of the issues, the establishment of a narrative that the American administration is weak and hesitant could harm crucial Israeli interests in the long run and maybe even an important component in the Israeli deterrence, which reliesamong other thingson the way its allys policy is interpreted by its rivals in the region.
UNITED NATIONS - Syria's foreign minister told world leaders Saturday that his country is "marching steadily" toward the goal of rooting out terrorismand "victory is now within reach."
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Walid Muallem pointed to "the liberation of Aleppo and Palmyra," the end to the siege of Deir ez-Zour by the Islamic State extremist group, "and the eradication of terrorism from many parts of Syria" by the Syrian army and its supporters and allies, including Russia and Iran.
Russia's military said about two weeks ago that Syrian troops have liberated about 85 percent of the war-torn country's territory from militants, a major turn-around two years after Moscow intervened to lend a hand to its embattled long-time ally.
Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem (Photo: AFP)
Muallem heaped praise on the army and the country's allies and looked ahead to victory, though fighting still continues in many areas of the country.
"I am confident that when this unjust war on Syria is over, the Syrian army will go down in history as the army that heroically defeated, along with its supporting forces and its allies, the terrorists that came to Syria from many countries and received large support from the most powerful countries of the world," he said.
Israel, he said, was one of the countries supporting the rebels. "It gave them various forms of supportmoney, equipment, weapons, means of communicationsand even bombed Syrian army posts in aid of the terrorist plans," Muallem charged. "The unlimited Israeli aid to the terrorists does not surprise. They share interests and the goals."
While the army and its supporting forces and allies "are making daily achievements, clearing out territories and uprooting terrorists," Muallem said, "the threat of this plague persists."
On the political front, he said local reconciliation agreements have allowed tens of thousands of internally displaced people and refugees to return home. He said "Syria is determined to scale up reconciliation efforts, whenever possible."
Syrian and Hezbollah forces (Photo: Reuters)
Russia, Turkey and Iran have been negotiating separately for months in the Kazakh capital Astana to try to reduce violence on the ground by creating de-escalation zones across the country, although those talks do not cover a long-term political solution to the six-year civil war.
Muallem said Syria is encouraged by talks in Astana and expressed hope that these talks "will help us reach an actual cessation of hostilities and separate terrorist groups" like ISIS from groups that have agreed to join the Astana process.
Nevertheless, he said: "Syria reserves the right to respond to any violation by the other party. Syria also stresses that these zones are a temporary arrangement that must not violate the territorial unity of Syria."
Earlier this month Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to deploy observers on the edge of a "de-escalation" zone in Syria's Idlib province, which is largely under the control of Islamist insurgents.
The move falls under a broader deal in which they would set up four such zones across Syria.
The de-escalation plan has eased fighting in parts of western Syria between rebel factions and government forces loyal to Assad.
Assad has gained the military upper hand against an array of rebel groups, including some that have received backing from the United States, Turkey and Gulf monarchies.
Critics have described the de-escalation plan as de facto partitioning of Syria after years of multi-sided conflict. Moscow, Tehran and Ankara deny this and say the zones will be temporary, although they could extend beyond the initial six-month term.
Muallem reaffirmed the Syrian government's commitment to further progress in Geneva talks, which are aimed at establishing a transitional government, drafting a new constitution and holding elections in Syria.
"This process has yet to bear fruit in the absence of a genuine national opposition that can be a partner in Syria's future," he said, "and as countries with influence over the other party continue to block any meaningful progress."
Talks among Syrian opposition groups are expected to take place in early October in hopes of producing a unified delegation in Geneva.
ISTANBUL/BAGHDAD - Turkey's parliament voted on Saturday to extend by a year a mandate authorizing the deployment of Turkish troops in Iraq and Syria, stepping up pressure against an independence referendum in northern Iraq's Kurdish region in two days' time.
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Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey would take security, economic and political steps in response to the referendum, which President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman described as a "terrible mistake" that would trigger new regional crises.
The United States and other Western powers have, like Turkey, urged authorities in the semi-autonomous Iraqi region to cancel Monday's vote. They say the move by the oil-producing area distracts from the fight against Islamic State.
Turkish tanks during drill on the Turkey-Iraq border (Photo: EPA)
In Iraq, a Kurdistan regional government delegation arrived in Baghdad for talks with the Iraqi government in an effort to defuse tensions, but a senior Kurdish official said the vote was going ahead.
"The delegation will discuss the referendum but the referendum is still happening," Hoshiyar Zebari, a top adviser to Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, told Reuters.
Turkish tanks during drill on the Turkey-Iraq border (Photo: EPA)
Turkish tanks during a drill on the Iraqi border ( : )
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Asked on Saturday if a cross-border operation was among the options, Yildirim told reporters: "Naturally, it is a question of timing as to when security, economic and security options are implemented. Developing conditions will determine that."
The mandate approved by Turkey's parliament on Saturday was first passed in 2014 with the aim of tackling threats from within its southern neighbours Iraq and Syria. It had been due to expire in October.
Turkish parliament voting to extend troop deployment (Photo: AFP)
'Uncontrollable fire'
Turkey is home to the largest Kurdish population in the region and is itself fighting a Kurdish insurgency on its soil. But it is also the main conduit for oil exports from Iraq's Kurdish region and it has said that any break-up of neighboring Iraq or Syria could lead to a global conflict.
Turkish troops during drill on the Turkey-Iraq border (Photo: EPA)
In a speech to parliament, Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli voiced concern about the referendum's impact on the region's ethnic and sectarian relationships, saying it could trigger an "uncontrollable fire."
"Pulling out just a brick from a structure based on very sensitive and fragile balances will sow the seeds for new hatred, enmity and clashes," he said.
Turkish troops during drill on the Turkey-Iraq border (Photo: EPA)
A particular area of concern is the multi-ethnic oil city of Kirkuk, which lies outside the recognized boundaries of the autonomous Kurdish region and is claimed by Baghdad. It is dominated by Kurds but is also home to Arabs, Assyrian Christians and Turkmenof whom Turkey has long seen itself as the protector.
"If the referendum is not cancelled, there will be serious consequences. Erbil must immediately refrain from this terrible mistake, which will trigger new crises in the region," Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin tweeted on Saturday.
Rocket attack
Militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) launched a rocket and mortar attack from the Iraqi side of the border on Turkey's Semdinli district on Saturday, killing one Turkish soldier and a worker in the area of a military base, the Hakkari governor's office said in a statement.
The PKK launched its separatist insurgency in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. It is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
The Iraqi army's chief of staff, Lieutenant General Othman al-Ghanmi, met his Turkish counterpart, General Hulusi Akar, in Turkey and they discussed the "illegitimate" referendum, Turkey's military said.
Graffiti in Basra, Iraq accusing Kurds of being pawns of Israel (Photo: EPA)
"The importance of maintaining Iraq's territorial integrity and political unity was stressed once again," it said.
The Turkish army launched military exercises on Monday near the Habur border crossing to Iraq. Military sources said they were due to last until Sept. 26, the day after the planned vote.
On Saturday the military said additional units had joined the exercises as they entered their second stage.
Turkey has for years been northern Iraq's main link to the outside world. It has built strong trade ties with the semi-autonomous region, which exports hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day through Turkey to international markets.
UNITED NATIONS Iraq's foreign minister is asking nuclear countries for help building an atomic reactor for peaceful purposes, saying the country has a right to use atomic power peacefully.
Ibrahim al-Jaafari made the request in his speech Saturday to the U.N. General Assembly's annual meeting of presidents, prime ministers and monarchs. He called for assistance "to build a nuclear reactor for peaceful purposes in Iraq, to acquire this nuclear technology."
Al-Jaafari cited the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty's provisions allowing countries to pursue peaceful nuclear energy projects. Iraq ratified the treaty in 1969.
Non-nuclear nations that signed it agreed to not pursue atomic weapons. In exchange, the five original nuclear powers -- the US, Russia, Britain, France and China -- promised to move toward nuclear disarmament and to guarantee non-nuclear states access to peaceful nuclear technology for producing power.
ERBIL, Iraq Three Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were killed and five wounded on Saturday when an explosive device blew up near their vehicle south of the Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk, security sources said.
The explosion happened in Daquq, a region bordering Islamic State-held areas, the sources said.
It took place as the Kurdistan Regional Government prepares for a referendum on Monday on independence for the region under its control in northern Iraq, including Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic region also claimed by the central government in Baghdad.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene the security cabinet Sunday afternoon.
Netanyahu is expected to provide cabinet members with updates on his talks with US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, as well as on Iranian entrenchment in Syria.
Last Friday, according to foreign sources, Israel attacked a military target in the Damascus airport once again. There seems to be a routine of Israeli strikes in Syria, which no longer interests anyone. The Syrians, Iran and Hezbollah dont seem too excited by it either. Have they come to terms with the successful Israeli preventive measures? Are they failing to respond because the Israeli deterrence is still very effective? Is Russian pressure stopping them from acting? Im afraid there may be a different explanation.
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Our enemies are willing to occasionally sacrifice means or targets that Israel allegedly manages to destroy, but at the same time, they have found other ways to transfer the advanced weapons from Iran through Syria to Lebanon. This isnt particularly complicated in light of three things: One, the Syria-Lebanon border is 300-kilometers long, and most of the area is tree-covered and mountainous; two, hundreds of trucks travel from Syria to Lebanon every day; three, there is no one between Tehran and Beirut who is interested in and capable of thwarting this activity.
Theres no escape from concluding, therefore, that despite the alleged Israeli thwarting operations, Hezbollah will continue building its power almost undisturbed. The Israeli activity is reportedly focused on an attempt to prevent Hezbollah from receiving or producing precision missiles. That is, undoubtedly, the preferred target. There is a huge difference between the damage potential of precision weapons and statistical weapons. Israel is a small country with a small number of vital sites and low redundancy. If power stations, airport, seaports, railway stations or hospitals are damaged in the next war, Israel will pay an almost unbearable pricein addition to hundreds of casualties.
Major military exercise in northern Israel, earlier this month. Ensuring the next war will be short requires us to fight the state of Lebanon, not just Hezbollah (Photo: EPA)
There are two conclusions from this serious change in the nature of the threat. First of all, Israel should keep trying to stop Hezbollah from arming itself with accurate weapons. However, as I doubt we will be able to prevent that over time, the second conclusion should be stressed: If someone opens fire at Israel from Lebanon, dragging us into the third Lebanon war, we must not let the war last 33 days like in 2006. A long war will cause intolerable damage to Israels military and civilian infrastructures.
The only way to ensure that the next war is short requires us to fight the state of Lebanon, not just Hezbollah. Israel can destroy Lebanons infrastructures and army within several days. Since there is no one in the worldneither the Lebanese nor Hezbollah, Syria or Iran, and of course Saudi Arabia, France, Russia and the United Stateswho wants to see Lebanon destroyed, it will lead to massive international pressure to reach a ceasefire within a week or less, and thats just what Israel needs.
Reaching such a decision in real time, when the conflict erupts, is insufficient. Israel should already start conveying this message, for two reasons: First of all, we will achieve deterrence and possibly prevent the next war since, as mentioned, no one in the world wants to see Lebanon destroyed. Second, if a war does break out in the end, its important that the Western statesat least the USunderstand in advance that Israel chose this strategy having no other choice. Unfortunately, Israel is conveying the opposite messages.
About a week ago, at the end of the major military exercise in northern Israel, the defense minister and army chiefs conveyed the message that Israel is capable of defeating Hezbollah. Thats a mistake. Even if Israel wins, but the war lasts about five weeks like in 2006, we will all pay a huge price which we will have trouble living with.
Zim Integrated Shipping Services was fined NIS 300,000 for spilling oil into the Mediterranean.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection claimed the company spilled eight to ten tons of oil while its ship was docked in the Haifa port.
The ship's chief mechanic will pay a NIS 25,000 fine and its captain will pay a similar fine, and was also sentenced to 50 hours of community service.
An ancient festival prayer book, originally penned in Catalonia, finally found its way to Israel after an incredible journey across two World Wars and most of the European continent.
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The prayer book was written and illustrated by hand in the Spanish autonomous community in the mid-13th century, two centuries before Jews were expelled from the Christian kingdom.
The unique prayer book was written in Catalonia in the 13th century (Photo: National Library of Israel)
Upon the expulsion, Jews took the book with them and it somehow found its way to Italy, the region that today is Israel and then Thessaloniki, which was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time. Finally, it was taken to Germany.
When World War II broke out, the manuscript went missing and reappeared again four decades later, when it was put up for sale in 1984.
Thanks to the involvement and generosity of Ludwig and Erica Jesselson, the book was purchased and then donated to the National Library of Israel.
The book contains one-of-a-kind micrographic art (Photo: National Library of Israel)
A masterwork of Jewish creation
Beyond the manuscript's singular story, its contents shine an extraordinary light on the cultural wealth of Spain's Jewish communities before the expulsion. The festival book was intended for use by cantors during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
The book is a masterwork of Jewish creation: liturgical poems written by some of the Jewish people's greatest poets, including Rabbi Judah Halevi and Abraham ibn Ezra, and is the only prayer book adorned with micrography, a distinctly Jewish artform of creating geometric designs using microscopic lettering.
"This artform appears almost exclusively in bibles, and therefore seeing it in a prayer book is unique," explained Dr. Dalia-Ruth Halperin, a micrography researcher.
"There's nothing else like it," she stated.
(Photo: National Library of Israel)
Poems written in the 'Golden Age'
The manuscript was written in parchment and includes 154 pages. It's adorned with micrographic illustrations and golden letterboxes set against scarlet and blue tiles.
"This book has at least three things completely unique to it," said Dr. Aviad Stollman, head of the National Library's Collections Division.
"The poems written during the Golden Age by the very best writers, its external beauty with unique micrography and, beyond all of those, the story of the Jewish people in the last few centuries," he elaborated.
"When I think of the author in Catalonia writing and illustrating the manuscript, what would he have thought if he were told about everything the book was going to go through? What would he have thought if he were told that in just a few centuries' time, Jews would no longer be in Spain but reside in Jerusalem, and that his manuscript would be taken on a tour of the entire world?" Stollman wondered.
A 35-years-old resident of east Jerusalem was arrested on the eve of Rosh Hashanah on suspicion of threats, incitement and support for a terrorist organization.
He was interrogated on suspicion of incitement for a long list of publications he distributed through his Facebook page.
The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court released the man to house arrest under restrictive conditions, but the District Court accepted the appeal filed by the police and extended his detention until Wednesday.
The court further ruled that the suspect would undergo a psychiatric examination.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen congratulated the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on its breakthrough result in Sunday's German parliamentary election.
"Bravo to our AfD allies for this historic showing! It is a new sign that the people of Europe are waking up," tweeted Le Pen, the leader of France's National Front who reached the run-off of the French presidential election in May.
According to early projections, the AfD was set not only to enter the national parliament for the first time, but to become Germany's third-biggest party with 13.5 percent. It is the first time that the far-right has been represented in the parliament for more than half a century.
President Donald Trump's Middle East peace negotiator, Jason Greenblatt, is returning to Israel to "continue the peace track" after the president met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last week in New York, a White House official said on Sunday.
"While President Trump had productive meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas at the United Nations, we always said that the UN would not focus on peace conversations and that those conversations would be happening on a separate track," the official said in a statement.
"(Greenblatt) will have follow-up meetings in advance of a private trip in the region with his family for Sukkot. The meetings are part of the Administration's quiet, steady discussions towards peace," he said.
Sukkot is a Jewish holiday.
Real estate assets in Australia and New Zealand are leading the world in environmental standards, according to a new global ranking from GRESB.
Companies and funds based in the region outperformed all other regions, attaining a score of 73 compared to a global average of 63, according to GRESBs Global ESG Benchmark for Real Assets.
The strong showing comes amid growing investor demand for disclosures around environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns.
The results for Australia and New Zealand underline that investor interest, supported by accurate ESG performance benchmarking and building-level certification programs, is empowering the spread of leading practices in sustainability, said Ruben Langbroek, head of Asia-Pacific for GRESB.
The regions integrated approach to sustainability supports the industrys efforts to create healthy working environments, efficient buildings, inclusive communities and resilient cities.
The top company or fund globally was Lendleases Australian Prime Property Fund Commercial (APPF Commercial). Lendlease also took the honour for most sustainable development fund globally. This was jointly awarded to Lendlease International Towers Sydney Trust (LLITST) and Lendlease One International Towers Sydney Trust (LLOITST).
Meanwhile, Dexus Wholesale Property Fund (DWPF) was named a global sector leader for diversified office and retail groups, while Stockland was ranked first globally among listed companies in the diversified office and retail sector.
Certification programs have been gaining traction in Australia, and the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has certified more than 1,700 Green Star-rated buildings, fit outs, and communities.
Globally, the real estate sector reduced energy consumption by 1.1% and slashed carbon emissions by 2.2% this year.
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Latest News
Key West, Florida - Naval Air Station Key West's Fleet and Family Support Center has established an Emergency Family Assistance Center program at its office on Sigsbee Park to provide support and coordinate services for families returning from the Hurricane Irma evacuation.
The EFAC, which provides housing, insurance, counseling and financial support, is open 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. daily, including weekends, and is scheduled to remain on site until Oct. 1.
The center doesn't provide assistance with travel claims, as those will be managed through the military member's command.
"When they come into the EFAC, we will be using the NFAAS [Navy Family Accountability and Assessment System] to conduct an assessment," said EFAC Director Train Hatton from Naval Support Activity Mid-South. "Depending on their needs, we will coordinate services to meet those needs."
The Navy established the EFAC program in 2005 after a succession of hurricanes hit a number of installations along the Gulf Coast. NFAAS is a method the Navy uses to account, assess, manage, and monitor the recovery process for personnel and their families affected and/or scattered by a wide-spread catastrophic event.
Hatton's team includes case managers from Pensacola, Gulfport, Whiting Field and Corpus Christi - all of which have suffered from the effects of major hurricanes.
"We also have crisis clinicians and a certified personal financial manager with us," Hatton said.
The team also has brought cleaning supplies, snack foods and a limited supply of disposable diapers.
While the primary focus of the program is active duty military families, he said his staff would also assist retired military and DOD civilians in need by directing them to available resources.
The EFAC will also vet volunteers seeking to assist in NAS Key West's recovery, Hatton said.
"We do accept volunteers but we are limiting it to military members," he said, adding that all volunteers must complete an application package as part of the vetting process.
FFSC is located in Bldg. V-4058, 804 Sigsbee Road. For more information, call 305-293-2766.
New York: US President Donald Trump has warned North Korea, saying if the country's foreign minister was echoing thoughts of his supreme leader Kim Jong-Un in his threatening speech at the UN, "they won't be around much longer."
North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho yesterday attacked Trump at the UN General Assembly, deriding him as a "mentally deranged" leader whose threats had increased the chances of military confrontation.
"Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at UN. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!" Trump tweeted last night.
In his speech, Ri had said that the US and its allies should "think twice" before threatening his country.
He said that by repeatedly calling Kim "Rocket Man," Trump is making "our rocket's visit to the entire US mainland inevitable all the more."
The foreign minister also said Trump is a "gambler who grew old using threats, frauds and all other schemes to acquire a patch of land."
Ri jumped into the nickname game as well, saying Americans call Trump the "Commander in Grief," "Lyin' King," and "President Evil."
Trump and Kim have traded increasingly threatening and personal insults as Pyongyang races towards its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the US.
Tensions have dramatically risen on the Korean peninsula after North Korea early this month conducted its biggest nuclear test, which its state-run KCNA news agency described as a hydrogen bomb.
San Juan: Puerto Rico`s governor met mayors from around the ravaged island on Saturday after surveying damage to an earthen dam in the northwestern part of the US territory that was threatening to collapse from flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Some 70,000 people who live downstream from the compromised dam, which has formed a lake on the rain-swollen Guajataca River, were under orders to evacuate, with the structure in danger of bursting at any time.
"We saw directly the damage to the Guajataca dam," Governor Ricardo Rossello said in a Spanish-language Twitter message on Saturday while reinforcing his request that people leave the area as soon as possible.
"The fissure has become a significant rupture," Rossello said separately at a news conference on Saturday.
The US National Weather Service said on its website the dam was still in danger of failing and triggering life-threatening flash floods.
"Stay away or be swept away," it warned.
Meanwhile, people across the island were struggling to dig out from the devastation left by the storm, which killed at least 25 people, including at least 10 in Puerto Rico, as it churned across the Caribbean, according to officials and media reports.
"To all Puerto Ricans, please know we will get back up," the governor tweeted as he met mayors in the territory to identify their most urgent needs. "Together with the mayors, as one government.4Puerto Rico."
In a development that could help the recovery effort, the Port of San Juan reopened, according to a Twitter message from the agency that operates it, allowing ships to unload supplies.
Severe flooding, structural damage to homes and virtually no electric power were three of the most pressing problems facing Puerto Ricans, said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo during a tour of the island.
"It`s a terrible immediate situation that requires assistance from the federal government not just financial assistance," said Cuomo, whose state is home to millions of people of Puerto Rican descent.
"It is a dangerous situation today and it`s going to be a long-term reconstruction issue for months," Cuomo, a Democrat and potential 2020 presidential candidate, told CNN.
Path Of Destruction
Maria, the second major hurricane to savage the Caribbean this month and the most powerful storm to strike Puerto Rico in nearly a century, carved a path of destruction on Wednesday. It knocked out electricity, apart from emergency generators, on the island of 3.4 million inhabitants.
Near the rain-swollen Guajataca River, in the northwest part of the island, floodwater littered with branches and debris engulfed the first floor of a number of homes and swamped vehicles that were left behind.
"We lost our house, it was completely flooded," said resident Carmen Gloria Lamb. "We lost everything, cars, clothes, everything."
The storm has resulted in 10 confirmed fatalities on the island so far, Rossello`s office told CNN on Saturday. The governor`s office could not be reached for comment by Reuters.
Signs of the strain on Puerto Ricans were evident throughout San Juan, the capital.
Drivers had to wait up to seven hours at the few filling stations open on Saturday, according to news reports, and lines of cars snaked for blocks. Hotels warned that guests might have to leave soon without fresh supplies of diesel to keep generators operating.
Water rationing also began on Saturday. Signs posted throughout San Juan`s Old Town informed residents that service would return for two hours each day, between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., until further notice.
Telephone service was also unreliable, with many of the island`s cell towers damaged or destroyed.
People swarmed under some of the towers, holding up their devices in the hopes of getting a signal.
The governor also extended a nightly curfew on Saturday, the Caribbean Business newspaper reported.
At San Juan`s Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, Mary Ann Arciola, her 32-year-old daughter and two young grandchildren slept in a rented van hoping to get a flight home to the United States.
"There`s nobody at the desks. There`s nothing on the screens," said Arciola, 62. "There`s a ton of people. They are starting to fight. It`s not good."
Debt Crisis
Maria struck Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale as the island was already facing the largest municipal debt crisis in US history.
The storm may have caused an estimated $45 billion in damage and lost economic activity across the Caribbean, with at least $30 billion of that in Puerto Rico, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research in Savannah, Georgia.
Elsewhere in the Caribbean, 14 deaths were reported on Dominica, an island nation of 71,000 inhabitants.
Two people were killed in the French territory of Guadeloupe and one in the US Virgin Islands. Two people died in the Dominican Republic on Thursday, according to media outlet El Jaya.
Maria still had sustained winds of up to 115 miles per hour on Saturday, making it a Category 3 hurricane, but was expected to weaken gradually over the next two days as it turned more sharply to the north.
Dangerous surf and rip currents driven by the storm were expected along the southeastern coast of the US mainland for several days, the National Hurricane Center said.
Maria hit about two weeks after Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean and the United States. It followed Hurricane Harvey, which also killed more than 80 people when it struck Texas in late August and caused flooding in Houston.
New Delhi: Bangladesh-based Hindus on Saturday decided to cut down on their Durga Puja expenses and provide relief to the Rohingya refugees by setting up a fund.
Following ethnic violence that errupted on August 25, as many as 420,000 Rohingyas both Muslims and Hindus fled Myanmar's Rakhine. As per reports, nearly 800 Hindus from Rakhine are likely to take refuge in Bangladesh.
"Their mass exodus has unfolded a horrific humanitarian crisis (and so) we will stand by the persecuted refugees with assistance by saving during the Dugra Puja festival," PTI quoted the general secretary of the apex Puja Celebration Council.
The puja celebration committees across Bangladesh had been asked to save and establish a fund to aid to the Rohingya refugees, he added.
Although the Rohingya are regarded as illegal immigrants in Myanmar, Bangladesh has been overwhelmed by them.
(With PTI inputs)
Jamshoro: Pakistan's Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani has called the country's former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf a murderer and said the latter should return to Pakistan and face cases against him.
Geo News quoted Rabbani as saying that Musharraf should return to Pakistan and face cases against him if he is a brave man.
He added that Musharraf was enjoying his life sitting in London and Dubai.
Earlier, Musharraf had accused Pakistan People's Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari of being involved in the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
In a video message, Musharraf, the former army chief, said, "Asif Ali Zardari is responsible for the Bhutto family's demise as he had the most to gain from [it]."
He further said that he was speaking out because he "could not tolerate" the fact that Zardari had recently directly accused him of being responsible for the murder.
Mumbai: Newton Director Amit V Masurkar says he was completely unaware of the Iranian film "Secret Ballot" and that people should watch both the films and compare to find out if they are copied.
Newton has been chosen as India's official selection for Oscars 2018. A day after this news was announced, several reports came out claiming that the film has been inspired by a 2001 Iranian movie titled "Secret Ballot", helmed by Babak Payami.
It focuses on the life of a ballot officer who visits a barren and desolate place to plead with voters to cast their votes and take part in the elections.
Asked if he was inspired by the Iranian film, Masurkar told IANS: "I wrote the story in 2013 and after that, for eight months I along with Mayank (Tiwari, the screenplay writer) worked on the script.
"The intention of the story is to talk about a section of the population in our democracy who has a desire to vote but how, under which situation, missed out on the equal rights. The story was born from my heart. I had no idea about 'Secret Ballot'."
The director added: "I think two days before the shooting starts, someone told me if I watched that Iranian film. I went through some of the clippings online and our film has no similarities to that.
Newton had its world premiere at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival and won the International Confederation of Art Cinemas Award for best film in the 'Forum Section'.
Masurkar says that the film has been watched by several critics.
"The film has travelled to 40 countries. Audiences and critics have watched it across. They could have said that then... they haven't because it is a different film. I think people should watch the film to compare and find out if my film is copied from that one ('Secret Ballot')," Masurkar said.
Newton, which stars National Award-winning actor Rajkummar Rao, revolves around a government employee who struggles to supervise voting in a forest area of Chhattisgarh, controlled by Maoists.
Mumbai: Director Hansal Mehta, who is writing the film adaptation of The Accidental Prime Minister, says the movie will have a balanced account of Dr Manmohan Singh's stint as the prime minister.
The movie is based on the book of the same name written by Singh's former media adviser Sanjaya Baru.
Filmmakers often face trouble from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and political outfits if a movie has a political background. Mehta, however, says he does not get bothered by such pressure.
In an interview with PTI, Mehta says, "I am never bothered about it. The Accidental Prime Minister is in early stages of development. It is an important film and the idea is to make it in a very balanced manner."
Actor Anupam Kher will play the role of the former prime minister in the movie.
The 2014 memoir gives a detailed account of Singh's tenure (2004-2014) and an insight into the Indian political scenario during those years. The film, slated to release later next year, will be directed by debutant Vijay Ratnakar Gutte.
Mehta is excited about his upcoming directorial venture Omerta. The film chronicles the story of the British-born terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who kidnapped and murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.
"Omerta is a political thriller and it had its world premier in Toronto. It is explosive and can be controversial. But I am not shying away from it," says the director.
Mehta adds that be it Shahid or now Omerta, he has never struggled to find like-minded people, who support a true story and not shy away from taking risks.
"I have never struggled to find like-minded people, who would support your vision wholeheartedly and give the film as much love as you would give it. Money is the by-product. You need people to invest in your ideas."
The makers are planning to release Omerta later this year or early next year.
New Delhi: Industry chamber CII on Sunday sought extension of time by two months for filing of GST returns in view of difficulties being faced by businesses.
The GST Council has already extended the last date for filing final returns to October 10. CII has now requested for further extension to resolve certain system issues.
In view of difficulties of online filing, the industry body suggested that "the due dates for filing GSTR-1, GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 should be deferred for another month or two".
The chamber also suggested that no penal action should be taken against the trade and industry by the revenue department in the initial six months of the GST launch.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was introduced on July 1.
It said that the GST Network (GSTN) system response should be enhanced to allow download, preview details, and take prints for reconciliation before submission.
The industry body also recommended that GSTR-3B should have provision for rounding off Input Tax Credit to nearest rupee.
"This will match output tax liability which is rounded off, and be accepted in the system," the chamber said.
For companies with turnover of over Rs 100 crore, the last date for filing GSTR-1 for July is?October 3 and for the rest, it is October?10.
Filing of GSTR-2 for July is to be done by October 31, and GSTR-3 by November 10.
Due dates for filing of returns for August are yet to be notified.
GSTR 3B is a simple return form introduced by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) for the month of July and August, following the roll out of the Goods and Services Tax from July 1.
New Delhi: The new mobile tower policy of Odisha, which prescribes time-bound approvals and minimum charges for erection, is a comprehensive framework that will help address telecom infrastructure issues in the state for next 15-20 years, an industry body said.
The Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (Taipa) has also urged other states to take a leaf out of the Odisha's policy and bring down hefty charges for setting up of mobile towers.
"The Odisha tower policy is one of the most comprehensive tower policies across the nation. It is capable of addressing telecom infrastructure needs for next 15-20 years. The policy indeed will be able to address issues such as call drops, network outage and connectivity gaps etc," Taipa Director General Tilak Raj Dua told PTI.
"Other states should learn from Odisha. In Maharashtra, Punjab and union territories, charges for installing mobile towers range between Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh besides rent. We have made various representation to authorities in these states and UTs but there has been no resolution till date," Dua said.
Telecom companies have frequently highlighted that abnormal charges and cumbersome processes of local authorities in states are roadblocks in setting up of towers which results in poor signal and call drops.
Odisha announced its mobile tower installation policy 'Odisha Mobile Towers, OFC and related Telecom Infrastructure Policy 2017' in the mid of the month.
The state government has made it mandatory that local authority will have to issue permit for installation of mobile towers within 60 days of receiving application from the company in case there are no disputes.
In case the application is rejected, the local authority will have to inform the company within seven days of disaaproving it along with reason.
As per the policy, firms are required to pay one time permission charges of Rs 10,000 for installing mobile towers on ground or on the rooftop in urban area and Rs 5,000 for rural area.
The Odisha government has allowed mobile tower companies to install ground base in government premises for paying charges in the range of Rs 100 to 300 per square feet in urban area.
Besides, it has prescribed no charges for mobile towers mounted on vehicles and companies only need to inform about the tower before 15 days of installing it.
New Delhi: An assistant professor of Delhi University (DU) has been accused of using obscene terms and demeaning Hindu goddess Durga in his Facebook post.
Taking to Facebook, the professor Kedar Kumar Mandal yesterday wrote,"Durga is the very much sexy pros****te in the Indian mythology."
Here's is the screenshot of Mandal's controversial Facebook post.
A teachers' body registered a police complaint against the professor of Dayal Singh College. Mandal had posted the controversial post on September 22 at around 6.43 PM which he later deleted.
On Saturday, BJP affiliated teacher's body National Democratic Teachers Front (NDTF) filed a case at the Lodhi Colony police station.
Student organisations like Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and National Students' Union of India (NSUI) have strongly criticised the post demanding immediate dismissal of the professor from DU administration
Hyderabad: Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday hinted that automobile industry could continue exports of petrol and diesel cars even as government will go ahead with its plan to transition India to all-electric mobility by 2030.
He told reporters on the sidelines of Indian School of Business Leadership Summit here that the government is not against automobile industry.
"We are not against any automobile industry. We export about Rs 1.5 lakh crore. It has got highest employment potential. I told them to continue exports," he said.
"But pollution is big concern. You give priority to indigenous technology. Now India is coal and power surplus country. It is very cheap. People will also be benefited. Give priority to this," he added.
The minister had last week urged the industry to give up making petrol and diesel cars for vehicles that run on electricity and alternative energy.
He had also made it clear that the government will stick to its plan whether the industry likes it or not.
The ministry has also cleared the electric vehicle policy for 100 per cent manufacturing of electric vehicles.
New Delhi: An unusual visitor paid a visit to the Delhi Secretariat campus causing a stir inside the premises with many wondering what the creature was.
It was a two-foot-long monitor lizard, that was found inside the premises, said officials who rescued it later.
The reptile, a non-venomous species, was found trapped inside a turnstile (automated gate) in the lobby area and was later rescued, Wildlife SOS said.
But, the sprawling campus of the Secretariat is no stranger to such unusual visitors.
"Last year, we rescued a 3.5-ft-long cobra from the Secretariat," said a member of the team, which rescued the lizard on Thursday.
Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder, Wildlife SOS, said "Monitor lizards are non-venomous and pose no threat to humans.
As a result of continuous deforestation and expansion of human habitation these largely misunderstood reptiles are often forced to wander out of their natural habitats in search of food and shelter."
"They play an important role in the ecosystem but they are often killed for their meat and body parts due to misconstrued beliefs," he said.
The NGO said that after being kept under observation for a few hours the lizard was released back into its natural habitat.
(With Agency inputs)
Berlin: Turnout slipped slightly in Germany`s election despite politicians warning that apathy could boost the far-right, expected to return to Parliament after a half century`s absence, overshadowing Chancellor Angela Merkel`s expected victory.
After shock election results last year, from Britain`s vote to leave the European Union to the election of US President Donald Trump, many look to Merkel to rally a bruised liberal Western order, tasking her with leading a post-Brexit Europe.
Some 41.1 per cent of voters had cast ballots by 1200 GMT, the Federal Returning Officer said in a statement, down from 41.4 per cent at the same time four years ago, suggesting not all had heeded the advice of President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
"It has perhaps never been as clear that the elections are about the future of democracy and Europe," he wrote in mass-market newspaper Bild am Sonntag, amid polls showing that as many as a third of Germans were undecided.
"If you don`t vote, others decide."
In Germany`s proportional election system, low turn-out can boost smaller parties, such as the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), giving them more seats from the same number of votes.
In regional elections this year, Merkel`s conservatives suffered setbacks from the AfD, which profited from resentment at her 2015 decision to open German borders to more than one million migrants.
But with the migrant issue under control this year, Merkel has overcome earlier doubts over running and thrown herself into a punishing campaign schedule, presenting herself as an anchor of stability in an uncertain world.
Visibly happier, Merkel campaigned with renewed conviction: a resolve to re-tool the economy for the digital age, to head off future migrant crises, and to defend a Western order shaken by Trump`s victory last November.
The overall fall in turnout masked great regional variation. North Rhine-Westfalia, Germany`s most populous state, reported a 3 per cent increase in turnout, while the city of Munich saw a 10 per cent increase. In some of the eastern states where the AfD is strong, turnout held steady.
"Gravediggers Of Democracy"
Both Merkel and her main challenger, Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz have warned that low turnout could help extreme parties, especially the AfD, whose arrival in Parliament could signal a break from the steady, consensus-based politics that has marked Germany`s prosperous post-war period.
Schulz, who on Friday described the AfD as "gravediggers of democracy", on Sunday told reporters he was still optimistic that his party, a distant second in polls, would pick up the votes of the undecided.
Merkel, escorted under an umbrella into the polling station by her scientist husband Joachim Sauer, smiled as she voted in Berlin, but said nothing.
An INSA poll published by Bild newspaper on Saturday suggested that support was slipping for Merkel`s conservatives, who dropped two percentage points to 34 per cent, and the SPD, down one point to 21 per cent. The two parties now govern Germany in an unwieldy "grand coalition".
The anti-immigrant AfD, whose leaders have called for Germany`s World War Two army to be honoured, rose two points to 13 per cent in the latest poll, putting it on course to be the third-largest party.
"I hope that our democracy can deal with a party that has said, in my view, intolerable things in the media," said Kathrin Zimmermann, voting in Berlin. "I hope the right-wing pressure doesn`t get too strong."
Should she win a fourth term, Merkel will join Helmut Kohl, her mentor who reunified Germany, and Konrad Adenauer, who led Germany`s rebirth after World War Two, as the only post-war chancellors to win four national elections.
Coalition-building after the election could be very lengthy as potential partners are unsure whether they really want to share power with Merkel. All major parties refuse to work with the AfD.
Electoral arithmetic might push Merkel to renew her grand coalition with the SPD, or she might opt for a three-way alliance with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and environmentalist Greens.
Voting opened at 8 am and will continue until 6 pm, when exit polls will give a first indication of the outcome.
Sonipat: A student from Sonipat in Haryana wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday after she was allegedly gangraped by two school employees at the Om Public School. The minor reportedly claimed that she was raped after being made to watch a blue film.
"The employees are identified as Karambir and Sukhbir," Deputy Superintendent of Police Mukesh Jakhad told ANI.
Two employees who have been named in the e-mail are said to be members of the non-teaching staff. A case has been filed by the police and the two employees have been detained for investigation. The police added that the detained staffers have denied any involvement in the incident.
Police also added that the victim had not approached the school authorites with any complaint. "No complaint has been given to the school authorities by the victim. Have questioned the two accused & they have denied any involvement," the DSP said.
The school authorities, however, refuted reports of any such incident.
Haryana: Student of Om Public School in Sonipat allegedly gangraped by two members of the school staff. Victim writes to PM for justice pic.twitter.com/T0lxAoOp2P ANI (@ANI) September 24, 2017
Reports suggest that the girl sent her complaint in an e-mail to the Prime Minister as well as Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Varanasi: The Uttar Pradesh Police on Saturday baton-charged the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) students, who were protesting inside the campus since three days against alleged molestation of a varsity girl.
As per the reports, four people including 1 female and 3 males were left injured in the incident. The students alleged that the police thrashed them and dragged them through hair, but DM Varanasi, who was present on the spot, denied all such claims.
Reportedly, the protesting students tried to enter the residence of University Vice Chancellor and when the deployed security forces tried to stop them, students became violent and attacked the police after which the security forces also used force and lathi charge on the students to disperse them.
The ongoing protesters outside the BHU campus triggered when a first-year fine arts student of BHU, alleged that she was molested by three bike-borne men outside the varsity campus on Thursday.
The victim claimed that she went to the university administration for complaining about the incident but the administration in lieu of taking any action against the molesters, shamed the victim for her awkward hostel timings.
Angered by the laid-back attitude of the administration, the varsity students staged protests outside the campus on Friday and blocked entry to the campus through the main gate.
Talking to a leading portal one of the protesting students said,"PM Modi has been speaking volumes about his ambitious Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign but he should come and see the reality at the BHU. The VC and proctor instead of ordering inquiry are blaming the girl for roaming around inside the university premises late in the evening."
The BHU administration in its media released termed the protest political in nature and stated that it was timed with the PMs visit, with the intention of soiling the image of the university.
A day after police lathicharged students at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Vice-Chancellor Girish Chandra Tripathi blamed outsiders and anti-social elements for disturbing the environment at the varsity.
"We had information that some anti-social elements will try to disturb the environment of the University. Outsiders in huge numbers tried to escalate the protest," the V-C said on Sunday.
He also added that some students had complained about the installation of CCTVs and the matter is being investigated. "Some girls said University should be more sensitive towards safety. I agreed with their viewpoint. Safety and security is important. We will have to consider various aspects with regard to safety in University," he said.
"An unfortunate incident took place with one of our students; we're committed to stringent action & did so too," he said.
However, in his first interaction after the lathicharge on students on Saturday, the V-C did not comment on the protest and the treatment meted out to the students.
BHU witnessed violence by students who were lathicharged by the police, in an ugly turn of a protest against an alleged eve-teasing incident.
A number of students and policemen were reportedly injured in the clashes. In wake of the violence, the university has announced "holidays" from Monday until October 2, advancing it from September 28.
Varanasi: Security increased outside BHU after clashes between students and police personnel last night pic.twitter.com/PkHPvj68xu ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 24, 2017
Violence erupted after some students, protesting against the alleged eve-teasing incident, wanted to meet the Vice Chancellor at his residence, according to police and university sources. The security guards of the university stopped them and the police was informed but the students then indulged in stone-pelting, people at the University claimed.
Police used lathicharge to control the situation.
BHU students have been protesting near the university's main gate since Thursday against the rising eve- teasing incidents on the campus. The trigger was an incident in which a woman student of Arts faculty alleged harassment by three men on a motorcycle inside the campus while she was returning to her hostel.
The three men abused her and fled when she resisted their attempts, according to the complainant.
Washington: US Defence Secretary James Mattis will seek to take the India-US defence ties to the next level during his visit to India this week, with discussion on F-16s and the security situation in the region likely to dominate the agenda.
Firmly of the view that a stronger India both in terms of military and economy is in America's national interest, Mattis would meet his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman, National Security Advisor Ajit K Doval and also call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This is the first Cabinet-level visit to India under the Trump administration.
Informed sources familiar with the preparations of the visit said the trip would be used to develop new institutional mechanisms to elevate the status of India-US defense relationship, showcase enhanced strategic co-operation in Afghanistan and strengthen maritime security and rule of law in the Indo-Pacific region.
While no specific defence trade deal is likely to be announced during the visit of Mattis to India on September 26-27, sources said there would be discussions on two specific proposals of F-16 and F-18A under Modi's Make in India campaign, along with efforts to identify new projects under the ambitious Defence Technology and Trade Initiatives (DTTI).
The Trump administration wants to sell F-18 and F-16 fighter planes to India, built by American companies Boeing and Lockheed Martin respectively. Both companies have offered to assemble these planes in India.
Ahead of his visit, Mattis met Indian Ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna at the Pentagon. And in a rarest of the rare gesture, Mattis came down to the River side entrance of the Pentagon to receive Sarna. The Indian envoy said the meeting was "very positive and cordial." After the meeting, the Defense Secretary came down to see him off.
This is also the first follow-up visit by a US cabinet official after Modi's June trip to the US. During the visit, the two countries are expected to review the defence and strategic decisions taken by Modi and US President Donald Trump in June.
During his India visit, Mattis is likely to talk with Sitharaman and other Indian leaders on the new Afghan strategy and the Indo-Pacific region.
Trump while announcing his new Afghan policy had asked India to do more to help Afghanistan with its developmental needs.
According to officials, Mattis is interested in accelerating the pace of India-US defense co-operation and making it an effective tool in achieving the goal of peace and stability in the entire region ranging from South Asia to Indo-Pacific region.
Mattis, it is learnt, is taking along with him some of his own ideas in this regard, which he would like to discuss with the Indian leadership and get their feedback. To take the relationship to the next level, including more exercise and sale of high-tech defence equipment, the Pentagon instead of the foundational agreements is now looking for some India specific documentation that would provide institutional mechanisms, address India's concerns and meet the Congressional-mandated legislative requirements in this regard.
This could be seen as a major climbdown, as India had been resisting from signing any foundational agreements for the past several years because of sovereignty concerns.
In his interaction with the Indian leaders, Mattis is also expected to discuss how to advance and Major Defense Partnership, a designation given to India by the previous Obama Administration which has been continued by the Trump Administration.
Mattis' India visit comes in less than a week after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had her first bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.
New Delhi: In yet another incident of racism, an Assamese student was denied entry into the Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah by an official, after being labelled as a foreigner.
The incident took place on Friday when the girl Manjita Chanu who was accompanied by her friends was stopped at the entrance of the national monument by the guards. Chanu claimed that the security guards asked her to give an ID as proof of being an Indian citizen.
The girl narrated the entire incident on her Facebook page. She wrote,Is this the land of my India? Am I safe here or not?
"They again called Northeastern girl a foreigner and didnt allow to enter in Agra. Recently, I went Agra with my friend and her younger brother. I gave my phone to her brother to shoot the video. They did not allow me to go and kept on calling me a foreigner. I could speak good Hindi but even then they were rude. While shooting the video this man denied showing his identity card when my friend said to put this on YouTube,"Manjita recounted the horrific episode.
"And there was also no lady security guard. The security man tried to check my bag but I denied because I had some personal stuff. And, I asked for a security guard, but they said she is having lunch so I have to wait for long. Then I said, I am getting late I have my train to Delhi, tell me where she is I will personally go and let her check my bag," the girl wrote.
Narrating the incident of racism further, Manjita said," The police security guard showed me the direction. We went but there was no one. Far away, there was an old lady talking with a guy. She didnt look like a security guard. When I asked her, she said, I am a cleaning worker here. I was very upset, I told another security guard whats going on. We start arguing and they let us go without checking my bag. I was shocked again. Is this the land of my India? Am I #safe here or not ????
New York: Pakistan on Sunday described India as the "mother of terrorism in South Asia" and urged the international community to stop New Delhi`s provocative and aggressive actions.
Pakistan`s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi cautioned the international community to act firmly against India if it wanted to avoid a dangerous escalation between the two neighbours.
Lodhi, who was exercising her right to reply to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj`s view that Pakistan has created terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Haqqani Network, said New Delhi must stop ignoring what she called the "core issue" of Kashmir.
It may be recalled that Swaraj avoided mentioning Kashmir in her address at the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
"If the international community wishes to avoid a dangerous escalation between India and Pakistan, it must call on India to halt its provocations and aggressive actions. It must end the ceasefire violations along the Line of Control. It must halt its sponsorship of terrorist groups against Pakistan," Lodhi said.
India is yet to decide whether it wants to exercise its right to respond to Ambassador Lodhi`s remarks.
Ambassador Lodhi said if Pakistan and India fail to resolve the Kashmir dispute, the UN and the international community has the right and the obligation to help to resolve it.
"UN Security Council resolutions do not lapse with time. Or are `overtaken`, as the Indian foreign minister put it. Law has no expiry date. Morality has no sell-by date. India`s posture is that of the predator. It cannot escape its legal and moral obligation to abide by the resolutions of the Security Council," she said.
Referring to Swaraj`s remarks on terrorism and her push for a definition, Lodhi said the UN should actually define terrorism.
"In that definition, we should include `state terrorism`. India has sponsored and perpetrated terrorism and aggression against all its neighbours, creating terror groups, destabilising and blockading neighbours to do its strategic bidding and sponsoring subversion, sabotage and terrorism in various parts of Pakistan. All this establishes that India is the mother of terrorism in South Asia," she alleged.
She said the `largest democracy` is also "the world`s largest hypocrisy" and it`s ruled by the "fascist" ideology.
She also said Pakistan remains open to resuming a comprehensive dialogue with India to address all outstanding issues, especially Jammu and Kashmir and discuss measures to maintain peace and security.
"But this dialogue must be accompanied by an end to India`s campaign of subversion and state-sponsored terrorism in Pakistan," she demanded.
In her speech, Swaraj had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has offered the hand of peace and friendship since he assumed office.
"Pakistan`s Prime Minister must answer why his nation spurned this offer," she had said.
Swaraj reminded Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi that in December 2015, when she was in Islamabad, a decision was made by then PM Nawaz Sharif that dialogue between India and Pakistan should be renewed and named it a "Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue".
"The word `bilateral` was used consciously to remove any confusion or doubt about the fact that the proposed talks would be between our two nations and only between our two nations, without any third-party present. And he must answer why that proposal withered, because Pakistan is responsible for the aborting that peace process," Swaraj had said.
New Delhi: A terrorist has been killed in an encounter with security forces which broke out on Sunday in Uri area of Baramulla district in Jammu and Kashmir.
As per the reports of news agency ANI, the operation is currently underway and the identity of the slain militant is yet to be known.
J&K: Encounter between Security forces and terrorists in Uri continues ; One terrorist killed (Visuals deferred by unspecified time) pic.twitter.com/L3gvC30CWb September 24, 2017
Earlier in the day after receiving information about the presence of terrorists, security personnel laid a cordon and started a search operation in the Kalgai area of Uri this morning.
As per the reports, the search operation turned into an encounter as the security forces were fired upon by the terrorists.
(More details awaited)
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday addressed the nation in his 36th edition of monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat'.
In the 30-minute long address, PM Modi appreciated the 18-year-old Kashmiri boy Bilal Dar, for actively taking up the cleanliness drive.
"I congratulate 18-yr-old Bilal Dar, who has been made brand ambassador for cleanliness by Srinagar Municipal Corporation," Modi said.
Dar, who has cleaned more than 12000 kg of garbage from the Dal Lake in a year has been made brand ambassador for cleanliness by Srinagar municipal corporation.
Congratulate 18-yr-old Bilal Dar,who has been made brand ambassador for cleanliness by Srinagar municipal corporation: PM Modi #MannkiBaat pic.twitter.com/4XTGgqQxuX ANI (@ANI) September 24, 2017
The Prime Minister also hailed the print and electronic media for their support towards 'Swachhata Hi Seva' movement.
PM Modi urged people to use Khadi product this Gandhi Jayanti to light the lamp of prosperity in the lives of the poor.
"I had earlier mentioned that Khadi was not a cloth but a movement which should be taken forward. The sale of the fabric has also increased due to which the employment among poor people has seen a rise. We must work towards lighting lamps in the houses of people engaged in the Khadi industry this Diwali," Modi said in the 36th edition of his monthly radio programme.
PM said that Mann Ki Baat has played an important role in the integration of every section of society and improving the governance by getting nationwide inputs.
"I get so much feedback for 'Mann Ki Baat'. We have completed the programme`s three years. Naturally, I am not able to refer to all of it but the inputs given help us in the governance.
"It has helped in the integration of every section of society," Modi said today.
"I get a treasure of information through email, the Narendra Modi app, phone and many others through which I get to know about what`s happening in the country.
"I am thankful to the citizens for sharing their important inputs," the Prime Minister added.
(With inputs from agencies)
New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday thanked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on social media, for acknowledging UPA governments vision and legacy, in her hard-hitting speech at the 72nd Session UN General Assembly(UNGA).
Taking to Twitter, Gandhi wrote, "Sushma Ji, thank you for finally recognising Congress governments' great vision and legacy of setting up IITs and IIMs."
Sushma ji, thank you for finally recognising Congress governments' great vision and legacy of setting up IITs and IIMs Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) September 24, 2017
Earlier, the Congress Party had welcomed Swaraj's speech and praised her for replying to "those who ask what happened in the last 70 years".
"Befitting reply to those who ask what happened in last 70 years. Sushma Swaraj mirrored the yeoman's progress made by India under Congress rule, making 'inclusive growth & progress' as India's mantra," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had said in a series of tweets.
Addressing the UNGA session in New York, Swaraj on Saturday ripped apart Pakistan and said that India has established institutions like IITs, IIMs and AIIMS and Pakistan had created terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Haqqani network.
"There have been many governments under many parties during 70 years of Indian freedom, for we have been a sustained democracy. Every government has done its bit for India's development. We have marched ahead consistently without pause, in education, health and across the range of human welfare. We established scientific and technical institutions which are the pride of the world," Swaraj said.
She also questioned as to what has Pakistan offered to the world and to its own people apart from terrorism?
In a stinging response to Pakistan, Swaraj said India is completely engaged in fighting poverty whereas as Islamabad seems engaged in fighting New Delhi.
The External Affairs Minister also hit out at Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khakan Abbasi, saying that that the latter wasted too much of his speech in making accusations against India.
(With inputs from agencies)
New Delhi: Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar has said that terrorism is the greatest challenge faced by the world as of now and it needs to be fought unitedly without a "compromise". "The recognition that the initiative once again by our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) that if prosperity is not possible without peace, which indeed it is not, then who is the most powerful contemporary, where is the most powerful contemporary challenge to peace is coming from," he questioned during his speech at an event in Delhi recently.
"It is coming from terrorism and therefore you have to fight terrorism without ifs, without buts and this may be useful for our European friends to carry back home, there are no ifs and no buts in the conflict with this (terrorism)," the minister said at the 'Changing Asia-2017' conference.
Referring to a resolution adopted by the leaders of the five-nation BRICS bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) at the Summit in China's Xiamen, Akbar said, "You have suffered from isms before, terrorism is the most dangerous ism of the 21st century and therefore the BRICS resolution."
For the first time, Pakistan-based terror groups like the LeT and the JeM were named in the BRICS Summit declaration that also asserted that those responsible for committing, organising or supporting terror acts must be held accountable.
Akbar also said that a clear message is being sent by the US in fighting terrorism and "this message...Will resonate through this century. It will not change friendships, it will not change strategic relations but hopefully it will change behaviour patterns".
"Once again I am telling you the practical application, the BRICS resolution on terrorism eliminates now the ifs and buts and BRICS recognizes that you must now say it the age of fudge is also over," Akbar said.
"And exactly around the same time even America which has invested so much American blood and treasure into the conflicts of Afghanistan has sent a very clear message that there is no compromise possible on terror and nations who are the equivalents of, have no place," he added.
New Delhi: The Congress Party has welcomed External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's address at the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and praised her for replying to "those who ask what happened in the last 70 years".
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala thanked Swaraj "for stating hard facts about India and Pakistan at UN".
"Befitting reply to those who ask what happened in last 70 years. Sushma Swaraj mirrored the yeoman's progress made by India under Congress rule, making 'inclusive growth & progress' as India's mantra," said Surjewala in a series of tweets.
The Congress leader further said it was "time to move words into action as Pakistan still receives 743 million dollar annual US aid, collaborates with China on CPEC and buys arms from Russia."
Earlier, Sushma ripped apart Pakistan at UNGA in New York stating that "India has risen despite being the principal destination of Pakistan's nefarious export of terrorism.
"There have been many governments under many parties during 70 years of Indian freedom, for we have been a sustained democracy. Every government has done its bit for India's development. We have marched ahead consistently without pause, in education, health and across the range of human welfare. We established scientific and technical institutions which are the pride of the world," Swaraj said.
She also questioned as to what has Pakistan offered to the world and to its own people apart from terrorism?
In a stinging response to Pakistan at the UNGA, she said India is completely engaged in fighting poverty whereas as Islamabad seems engaged in fighting New Delhi.
Swaraj also hit out at Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khakan Abbasi, saying that that the latter wasted too much of his speech in making accusations against India.
Srinagar: Two special police officers (SPOs) of Jammu and Kashmir Police were on Sunday injured in a grenade attack by militants in Sopore town of Baramulla district. Militants hurled a grenade towards security forces at Main Chowk Sopore at around 9.35 am, resulting in minor injuries to two policemen, a police official said.
He said the injured policemen were taken to local hospital.
The attack comes at a time when an encounter with security forces is underway in Uri area near the Line of Control in Baramulla district of Kashmir. A militant has been killed in the firing. "Cordon was laid and search operation started in Kalgai area of Uri this morning following information about the presence of militants in the area," an Army official said.
He said the search operation turned into an encounter after the militants opened fire on the security forces. "One militant has been killed in the operation. The civilian population has been evacuated from the area and the operation is still going on," he added.
Srinagar: Thwarting plans of terrorists to carry out an attack like the one on an Army base in 2016, security forces on Sunday killed three militants in an encounter in Kashmir's Uri.
Security forces had launched an operation in Kaghi forest area following specific information about a group of heavily-armed militants hiding there.
As the security forces tightened cordon around the area, the hiding militants opened fire at the security forces triggering a gunfight, IANS reported.
"A cordon was laid and search operation was started in Kalgai area of Uri this morning following information about the presence of militants in the area," an Army official said.
"Three militants have been killed in the operation while one soldier has sustained injuries," the official added.
He also said that three civilians were also injured in the gun-battle.
On the other hand, Director General of Police SP Vaid said that the militants were planning a 'suicide' attack like the one carried out on an Army base in Uri last year.
"A big tragedy has been averted. Like the suicide attack on the Army base last year, they (militants) had similar plans this time, but the police and the Army got the information beforehand. A joint operation is going on to neutralise the ultras," he said, as per PTI.
On September 18 last year, four militants had stormed Army brigade headquarters in Uri, close to the Line of Control, killing 19 soldiers before being neutralised.
#IndianArmy Infiltration bid foiled in Uri sector. Two armed intruders killed. Ops in progress @adgpi NorthernComd.IA (@NorthernComd_IA) September 24, 2017
(With Agency inputs)
Mangaluru: A 19-year-old youth was arrested for allegedly molesting a German girl at Deralakatte near Mangaluru, police said on Sunday. The accused Mohammed Mustafa had on Saturday followed the 18-year-old German student, who had come to visit an ashram at nearby Panir as part of her research, they said.
He waylaid her while he was walking along the road and molested her.
Hearing her screams, the locals gathered and beat him up black and blue before handing him over to the police, sources said.
Family members of the youth told the police that Mustafa was mentally unstable and had been receiving treatment at the Wenlock hospital.
A case has been registered in this connection, police said.
Bengaluru: Amidst an intensified campaign for a separate religious status to Veerashaivas-Lingayat faith, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said the government has nothing to do with the rallies being organised in this regard.
With resentment within the community over projecting Lingayats and Veerashaivas as the same, he clarified that the stands taken by few of his ministers on the issue as "their personal".
"The government has nothing do with the rallies," Siddaramaiah told reporters in Chitradurga.
Responding to a question about ministers participating in the rallies and taking sides, he said "can't ministers have their own opinion. Is there anything that they have to listen to what I say? On matters concerning the government they consult me, on matters not concerned with the government, I can't tie their mouth", he said.
As assembly elections are due earlier next year, the demand for a separate Veerashaivas-Lingayat religion status is gaining ground among the community, concentrated largely in the northern part of Karnataka.
Leaders and pontiffs who are propagating that Lingayats are separate from Veerashaivas, today held a large public meeting in Kalburgi as a show of strength.
While one section under 'Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha' has demanded separate religion status, asserting that Veerashaiva and Lingayats are the same, the other wants it only for Lingayats as they believe that Veerashaiva is one among the seven sects of Shaivas, which is part of Hinduism.
The Veerashaiva-Lingayat community that pays allegiance to the 12th century "social reform movement" initiated by Basaveshwara has a substantial population in Karnataka, especially in the northern parts of the state.
They also have presence in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana.
The BJP and several sections of the Hindu community are opposed to the move to give Veerashaiva-Lingayat separate religion status and have accused the Siddaramaiah government of dividing the society to draw political mileage ahead of assembly elections due early next year.
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday said his government would consider facilitating housing facility to electronic media journalists and press photographers in the state capital.
"I would consider over facilitating housing facility to electronic and photo journalists (here). They also work hard to get and break news," Chouhan said while addressing a gathering at programme of Rajdhani Patrakar Grah Nirman Sahakari Sanstha (RPGNSS) here.
He said he would also deliberate over converting the government land leased to the RPGNSS for (print) journalists housing colony into a free hold property.
The CM's statement came after journalists requested the government that the land leased to RRGNSS should be made a free hold property, so that it can be mortgaged for bank loans to construct houses.
Chouhan said people think that the journalists live a glamorous and influential life but it is the other way round.
"The journalists reach home at 2 am when the people are fast asleep and run after stories and to break news at day time," he said.
He said the government would help journalists to have their own homes.
Hyderabad: A city court in Hyderabad on Saturday sent Bollywood producer Karim Morani to judicial custody for 14 days in a rape case.
Morani surrendered to police late on Friday night in connection with the alleged rape of a 25-year-old aspiring actress, hours after the Supreme Court dismissed his plea for anticipatory bail.
The Chennai Express producer surrendered at the Hayathnagar police station on the city's outskirts around midnight. He was formally placed under arrest.
Morani was later produced before a magistrate, who remanded him to judicial custody till October 6. He was lodged in Cherlapally jail on the city outskirts.
The Delhi-based woman alleged that Morani raped her on the pretext of marrying her. She alleged that Morani took her nude pictures and videos and sexually exploited her by threatening to post the same on social media.
The police had booked him in January on charges of rape, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and cheating.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Morani's petition challenging the Hyderabad High Court's verdict cancelling his bail. The apex court directed him to surrender.
The High Court on September 5 had upheld the decision of the sessions court cancelling Morani's bail.
Morani was booked for cheating, rape, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and cohabitation caused by a man deceitfully inducing a belief of marriage under the Indian Penal Code.
The complainant alleged that Morani raped her in Mumbai and also at a film studio in Hyderabad in 2015 after promising to marry her.
The woman, who had done her Bachelor of Business Management (BBA) from Delhi, said she had met Morani through his daughter, who was also a theatre artiste in Mumbai.
The producer, however, had denied the allegations. Morani said the complaint was filed with the sole intention of tarnishing his reputation and image.
The producer's name had also figured as an accused in the 2G spectrum scam. He was accused of helping channel funds to the tune of Rs 200 crore to popular Tamil television channel Kalaignar TV.
Kolkata: Actress Raima Sen, who carries off both ethnic and Western styles well, says she is a conservative dresser.
"Even though I kind of carry off everything, I am still a very conservative dresser... ," Sen told IANS here at the launch of Satya Paul's Diwali exclusive limited edition festive series "Ramayana".
Inspired by the epic, the collection includes three different looks, the Rama Sari, the Sita Sari and the Ramayana Sari, that offer a vivid mix of prints, ranging from neo-traditional, tessellating geometrics to contemporary graphic and abstract.
Draping the Rama sari from the collection, the "Choker Bali" actor said she would prefer free-flowing and light fabrics for the festive season.
"Something light like this (referring to the sari) which is easy to carry because we do so much of work and it would be convenient to wear a light sari, and of course colourful because we do a lot of work on stage... cut ribbons... roam around and people want to see bright colours," she said.
On the work front, Raima, the daughter of actress-politician Moon Moon Sen and granddaughter of Bengali cine icon Suchitra Sen, has just wrapped up shooting for the Bengali film Kaya.
She is looking forward to a clutch of Hindi films including Vodka Diaries and Varanasi and is excited about the Bengali web series Hello.
"For me the clarity of vision of the director is the most important thing. I learnt a lot from (late filmmaker) Rituparno Ghosh. I have worked a lot with him. I am one of the lucky few that did. I have also worked with wonderful directors like Reema Kagti, Pradeep Sarkar and others," Raima added.
Istanbul: The winner of Turkey`s national beauty pageant was on Friday forced to hand back her crown hours after winning, over a tweet relating to the failed coup that was deemed offensive.
Itir Esen, 18, won Miss Turkey 2017 during a ceremony in Istanbul on Thursday night and was going to represent the country in the Miss World competition in China.
But organisers said that would not be possible after they discovered an "unacceptable" tweet Esen sent around the first anniversary of the July 15, 2016 coup attempt aimed at ousting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In the tweet, she compared the blood shed in her menstrual cycle with that of the 249 people who lost their lives during the failed coup and are now celebrated in Turkey as martyrs.
"I am having my period this morning to celebrate the July 15 martyrs` day. I am celebrating the day by bleeding on behalf of our martyrs` blood," she wrote.
Organisers said they had seen the tweet after the beauty contest`s results were announced and had to hold an hours-long meeting to verify the post.
Can Sandikcioglu, head of Miss Turkey, said in a statement that the tweet was posted by Esen.
"The Miss Turkey organisation, whose objective is to promote Turkey in the world and to contribute to its image, cannot accept such a post," he announced.
Esen`s title was handed to Asli Sumen, who came second and who will now represent Turkey in the Miss World contest in China on November 18.
In a message shared on her Instagram account, Esen said her post was written "carelessly" but was not politically motivated, apologising for any misunderstanding.
"I want to say that as a 18-year-old girl, I had no political aims while sharing this post," she wrote, saying that she only shared her "innocent thoughts during a sensitive time."
"My family raised me by teaching to respect our homeland and nation. I do not have a character that could show disrespect to our martyrs," she said.
Esen is not the first Turkish beauty queen to fall foul over a social media post.
In 2015, prosecutors launched an investigation against former Miss Turkey beauty queen Merve Buyuksarac on charges of insulting Erdogan through social media posts.
Buyuksarac was given a 14-month sentence by an Istanbul court last year, but the sentence was suspended on condition that she does not reoffend within the next five years.
Opposition critics of the president have decried shrinking freedom of expression under Erdogan in Turkey, where thousands have been prosecuted for social media postings deemed to have insulted the Turkish leader.
Mumbai: Actress Richa Chadha wonders why people assume she is angry by nature, and says she is only a straight-forward person who speaks her mind.
Richa interacted with media persons here on Saturday during the on-location shoot of her upcoming film Jia Aur Jia.
Asked why she often lands up having arguments with the media, Richa said: "I don't get angry. I am a straight-forward person and I always speak my mind, but I feel media is no less either.
"Since I am a straight forward person, people often assume that I am angry by nature especially when you play a character like Bholi Punjaban from Fukrey, who is very outspoken. So, it makes a certain kind of image of an actor, but I am not like that."
Clarifying her stand, Richa said: "I feel image is not self-made. It's not my problem that people don't remember me for films like 'Masaan', but they only remember me for film like Fukrey. I have done both kind of films, so audience sees you in a certain kind of image and identify you with that kind of image only.
"If they don't want to remember me in other kinds of role then I can't do much about that. So there is no conscious strategy with that. If a film comes my way and I like the subject, then I do that film."
The team of Jia Aur Jia has decided to revamp an old Hindi song "Jia ho... Jia oh Jia kuch bol do" from the 1961 film Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai, starring Dev Anand and Asha Parekh. The old classic was originally sung by Mohammed Rafi.
The new version of the song is composed by Nisschal Zaveri and is sung by Jyotika Tangri. It will also have bits from the original Rafi version as well.
Richa said: "It's the remix of the old song and we are dancing in it. The subject of the film is living life to its fullest. It's a slice-of-life film so the song is also peppy, happy and energetic."
Jia Aur Jia is produced by Mirza N Askari and is presented by Blue Fox Motion pictures Pvt Ltd. Directed by Howard Rosemeyer, it will release on October 27.
New Delhi: Actor Rajkummar Rao lost his mother while he was in the midst of shooting Newton, a political black comedy which has been locked as India's official entry for the foreign language film category at Oscars. He says the blessings of his "guiding star" are taking him places.
"Whatever good is happening with Newton is because of my mom's blessings. I really believe in that," Rajkummar told IANS.
The Drishyam Films movie, produced by Manish Mundra and directed by Amit V Masurkar, features the National Award-winning actor as Nutan Kumar aka Newton, a rookie but sincere government clerk who is sent on election duty to a Naxal-controlled town in the conflict-ridden jungles of Chhattisgarh state in India.
Newton had a world premiere at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Art Cinema award in the Forum segment. It also bagged a jury prize for Best Film at the Hong Kong International Film Festival.
Rajkummar said: "Winning in Berlinale, in Hong Kong and then to get such an amazing response, reviews and now to be India's official entry for Oscars... My mother is right up there and keeping a check on me. Her blessings are always going to be with me, I know."
"I absolutely believe she's my guiding star," added the actor, who was shooting for Newton when he received the news of his mother's death in March last year.
Hoping that Newton goes further in the Oscar race, and eventually wins, Rajkummar said it stands out because it's a very "Indian film".
"I'm happy people saw that Indianness in 'Newton'. It has a global appeal and it's so universal in nature, but still so rooted and grounded (in India)," said the actor, who debuted in Hindi filmdom with "Love Sex Aur Dhokha", and has since won critical acclaim for movies like Shahid, Citylights, Aligarh and Trapped.
His last release before Newton was Bareilly Ki Barfi, which gave the audiences and critics a chance to realise Rajkummar's range as an actor as they got to see him in a completely different avatar than his previous outings.
"My process of choosing scripts remains the same. Of whatever I read and whatever excites me is what I will continue to take up," said Rajkummar, who was born and raised in Gurugram, and studied acting at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.
Some critics have gone to the extent of hailing him as the Naseeruddin Shah of current times.
Laughing out at the comparison, the actor humbly said: "Naseer sir is one of the finest actors of our country. We have only one Naseeruddin Shah and we are very proud of him."
New Delhi: A law student, who accused godman Falahari Maharaj of raping her, said in a FIR that he asked her to lick his tongue before the sexual assault.
The 21-year-old, who hails from Chhattisgarh, was allegedly raped when she visited him in his ashram on August 7 in Rajasthan's Alwar city.
She had planned to return the same day, but he asked her to stay the night.
At about 7.30 pm, Baba called me to his room and after sending his disciples away he shut the doors and sat on the bed, a media report quoted her as saying in the FIR.
He then raped her.
I am writing Om on my tongue with honey and you will have to lick it. This is how I have imparted knowledge to many people, the Maharaj told me. He then grabbed me, she said in the complaint, adding I went blank and could not react.
The 60-year-old godman was arrested on Saturday and was shifted to a jail.
New Delhi: A Russian firm has unveiled a green smartphone which can keep 'eavesdroppers' at bay, a media report said on Sunday.
The InfoWatch Group, Russia's leading antivirus software development company, launched the 'TaigaPhone' at a business forum in Moscow on Friday.
The manufacturer said the phone, which costs around $260 and has a five-inch touchscreen, is eco-friendly.
The firm also claims TaigaPhone can protect users' confidentiality, track the device's location and even prevent information leakage.
"Half of all data loss in Russia happens on mobile devices, we intend to fix that problem with the TaigaPhone," AFP quoted company representative Grigoriy Vasilyev as saying at the investors' forum.
The phone is priced almost five times cheaper than the cost of an iPhone in Russia, the report said.
"We have created it for the corporate market," said Natalya Kaspersky, InfoWatch Group president and co-founder of Kaspersky Lab.
The Kaspersky Lab has been at the centre of a row in the US as some believe it may have links with Russian intelligence agencies.
The US government has removed Kaspersky from its list of approved vendors even though no concrete has come out against it.
Lucknow: Focus is back on Gorakhpur and Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya resigned as MPs from the parliamentary constituencies on their election to the Legislative Council.
While a confident BJP is claiming that it would not only "retain" but improve its "victory margin" in both the seats, political rivals are eyeing it as an opportunity to upset its apple cart in the state ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The saffron party and its allies had romped home in the 2017 Assembly elections bagging an overwhelming 325 out 403 seats.
According to party insiders, both seats are equally important for the BJP. Gorakhpur has been a party bastion since 1991 while the party made its debut in the Phulpur parliamentary seat--once considered as the pocket borough of the Congress--only in 2014 when Maurya won the seat.
"The party will not only retain both Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats, but also improve its victory margin in the bye-elections which will be held for both the parliamentary constituencies," UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said.
He said through various programmes organised by the party, there was a direct communication with the public. "People of the state are being informed about the achievements of the central government in past three years, and also about the work done in a short span of six months by the Uttar Pradesh government," Tripathi said.
On the opposition and other rival parties eyeing the bypolls to upset BJP's calculations, he said, "The entire opposition is clueless and scattered. We will win both the parliamentary seats banking on the achievements of the party and the hardwork of our party workers."
Yesterday, while addressing the Samajwadi Party's state convention held here, its national president Akhilesh Yadav said, "Lok Sabha bypolls will be held in Gorakhpur and Phulpur. If results of the elections are in our favour, it will give a message not only for 2019 (Lok Sabha polls), but also for 2022 (assembly polls)."
On the BJP's claims, UP Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh said, "The wave of change will begin from Gorakhpur itself (in the bypolls). The people have seen the three years' performance of the Centre and six months of the UP government. They want change. We are confident of snatching victory in the Lok Sabha bypolls."
The parliamentary constituency of Phulpur has been represented by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Congress leader Vijay Lakshmi Pandit. In 2014, Maurya bagged 5,03,564 votes (52.43 per cent of votes polled) to give the BJP its maiden victory in the parliamentary constituency, which was earlier also represented by the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Adityanath had started his winning streak in Gorakhpur seat from 1998 and he emerged victorious again in the 2014 elections by securing 5,39,127 votes (51.80 per cent of the votes polled).
Varanasi/Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday sought a report from Divisional Commissioner about lathi-charge by the police in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on a number of students, including women were injured.
"I have sought a report from the Divisional Commissioner, Varanasi, about the entire incident," the CM said in Lucknow.
Violence erupted after some students, protesting against the alleged eve-teasing incident of Thursday, wanted to meet the Vice Chancellor at his residence last night, according to police and university sources, PTI reported.
The trigger was an incident in which a woman student of Arts faculty alleged harassment by three men on a motorcycle inside the campus while she was returning to her hostel.
The three men abused her and fled when she resisted their attempts, according to the complainant.
The woman alleged that security guards, about 100 metres from where the incident happened, did nothing to stop the men.
She said her warden, instead of taking up the issue with her superiors, asked her why was she was returning late to the hostel.
The warden's response angered the student's colleagues, who sat on a 'dharna' at the main gate midnight Thursday. One of the students even got her head tonsured.
BHU students have alleged they have to face eve-teasers on the campus regularly and the varsity administration was not taking any action to stop the miscreants.
Police and BHU professors tried to pacify the students yesterday, but they refused to end their protest and sought assurance from the university vice-chancellor.
Last night, the BHU issued a statement, saying the 'dharna' by the students just a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit was "politically motivated" to malign the image of the university.
The university also said that security guards were regularly patrolling the campus and assistance from the police is sought from time-to-time to maintain peace in the campus.
Meanwhile, the university has announced "holidays" from tomorrow till October 2, advancing it from September 28.
On the other hand, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav condemned the lathicharge of the students in BHU.
BHU September 24, 2017
"The government should resolve the issue by talks, not by lathicharge. It is condemnable. Action should be taken againt the guilty," Akhilesh tweeted.
(With Agency inputs)
Yangon: Myanmar`s army said Sunday that a mass grave of 28 Hindus had been discovered in violence-wracked Rakhine state, blaming the killings on Rohingya militants.
"Security members found and dug up 28 dead bodies of Hindus who were cruelly violently and killed by ARSA extremist Bengali terrorists in Rakhine State," a statement posted on the army chief`s website said.
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) is the group whose raids on police posts in August triggered a military backlash that resulted in hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing for Bangladesh.
Yangon division: Myanmar`s Army said on Sunday that a mass grave of 28 Hindus had been discovered in Rakhine state.
They blamed the killings on Rohingya 'militants'.
"Security members found and dug up 28 dead bodies of Hindus who were cruelly violently and killed by ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) extremist Bengali terrorists in Rakhine State," a statement posted on the Army chief`s website said.
The ARSA is the group whose raids on police posts in August triggered a military backlash that resulted in hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing for Bangladesh.
Rights groups say there is overwhelming evidence that the Army is using its crackdown on militants to systematically purge the 1.1-million strong stateless Rohingya from its borders, PTI reported.
However, Myanmar has dismissed accusations of ethnic cleansing, saying it has to tackle the insurgents, whom it accuses of setting fires and attacking civilians as well as the security forces, as per Reuters.
More than 420,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since August 25.
Rohingyas, who trace their roots back generations in Myanmar, are a stateless minority who have mostly been stripped of their citizenship in the predominantly Buddhist country.
Tensions between the communities have simmered for decades and exploded into violence several times in recent years.
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has faced a barrage of international criticism over their plight, for not speaking out more forcefully against the violence or doing more to rein in security forces over which she has little power.
(With Agency inputs)
Islamabad: Pakistan on Sunday summoned India's acting Deputy High Commissioner here over alleged "ceasefire violations" by Indian troops along the Line of Control (LoC).
Pakistan claimed that a 22-year-old girl was killed due to the alleged firing by the Indian troops and two others were injured.
Pakistan Foreign Office alleged that India committed "unprovoked ceasefire violations" in Kotli and Nikial Sub- Sector on September 22.
"The deliberate targeting of civilians is indeed deplorable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws," the Foreign Office said.
Pakistan urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 ceasefire arrangement, investigate this and other incidents of ceasefire violations, and instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire in letter and spirit and maintain peace along the LoC.
He also called on the Indian side to allow the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to play its mandated role as per the UN Security Council resolutions.
New York: Pakistan's Ambassador to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi in her right to reply to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's speech at the UN showed pictures of Palestinian victims and tried to pass them off as 'evidence' of atrocities on Kashmiris. Maleeha Lodhi resorted to waving dramatic pictures of a girl with pellet injuries on her face and added, "this was the face of Indian democracy", while suggesting that Kashmiris had been injured by pellet guns.
However, upon closer inspection of the picture, Maleeha Lodhi's claim seemed to have boomeranged on her.
The picture used by Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN was reported by a number of media outlets as that of Rawia Abu Joma'a, a 17-year-old girl injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza city in 2014. Rawia's picture was taken by award-winning photographer Heidi Levine.
In her reply to Indian FM's speech in UNGA, Amb. Lodhi showed a pic of pellet gun injured women frm Kashmir saying this is the face of India pic.twitter.com/StuG3arPoN September 24, 2017
Earlier on Saturday, Swaraj had said India has risen despite being the principal destination of Pakistan's nefarious export of terrorism.
"India has risen despite being the principal destination of Pakistan's nefarious export of terrorism. There have been many governments under many parties during 70 years of Indian freedom, for we have been a sustained democracy. Every government has done its bit for India's development. We have marched ahead consistently without pause, in education, health and across the range of human welfare. We established scientific and technical institutions which are the pride of the world," Swaraj said while addressing the 72nd UNGA session in New York.
She also questioned as to what has Pakistan offered to the world and to its own people apart from terrorism.
In a stinging response to Pakistan at the UNGA, she said that India is completely engaged in fighting poverty, whereas Islamabad seems engaged in fighting New Delhi.
Nashville (US): A woman was killed and at least six people were injured when shots were fired at a church here on Sunday, the police said.
The victim died in a parking lot outside the church.
The shooter has been taken into custody. He was also wounded.
The incident took place around 11 am at Burnett Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch on the outskirts of Nashville, Tenessee, police told reporters.
The injured were shifted to nearby hospitals.
Antioch is about 16 km from Nashville, the capital of Tenessee.
Washington: The US military, in a show of force, flew bombers in international airspace over waters east of North Korea, the Pentagon announced.
The Pentagon said Saturday that B-1B Lancer bombers from Guam and F-15C Eagle fighter escorts from Okinawa, Japan, flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea, reports CNN.
It WAS the farthest north of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that US fighters or bomber aircraft have ever flown this century.
The flight underscored "the seriousness with which we take North Korea`s reckless behaviour," the Pentagon said.
"This mission is a demonstration of US resolve and a clear message that the President has many military options to defeat any threat.
"North Korea`s weapons programme is a grave threat to the Asia-Pacific region and the entire international community. We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the US homeland and our allies," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement.
There has been name-calling and heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang this week as the UN met in New York, CNN reported.
At the UN, North Korea`s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said US President Donald Trump was on a "suicide mission".
Ri`s comments to the General Assembly mimicked Trump`s remarks at the UN on Tuesday, when he called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a "rocket man on a suicide mission".
Earlier this week, Ri had also said that his country could test a powerful nuclear weapon over the Pacific Ocean in response to Trump`s threats of military action.
The minister`s remarks came shortly after Kim made an unprecedented televised statement, accusing Trump of being "mentally deranged".
Meanwhile, a shallow 3.4-magnitude tremor was detected near North Korea`s nuclear test site on Saturday morning, but experts believe it was a natural earthquake.
Columbia: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif branded Washington "unreliable" on Sunday in response to threats over the future of a nuclear deal with Iran.
"What the United States is doing, in addition to being unpredictable which might sometimes work is proving that it is unreliable," Zarif told CNN.
The deal, agreed in 2015 between Iran and six world powers the United States, China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany lifts economic sanctions put in place in 2005 in exchange for curbs to Tehran`s nuclear program.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is responsible for verifying that Iran meets the terms of the agreement.
But since arriving in the White House, Donald Trump has attacked the deal on numerous occasions, vowing to tear it up.
"Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don`t think you`ve heard the last of it," he told the UN General Assembly Tuesday.
The president cast further doubt over the deal after the Islamic republic tested a new medium-range Khoramshahr missile Saturday.
"Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea. Not much of an agreement we have!" Trump tweeted.
But Zarif brushed off the threat, saying Washington cannot act alone to end the agreement.
"This is not a bilateral agreement," he told CNN`s Fareed Zakaria.
"It`s not even a multilateral treaty. It`s a Security Council agreement and the United States is a member of the Security Council."
The foreign minister added that Donald Trump`s certification of whether Iran is abiding by the deal due mid-October is an "internal procedure" that in itself does not endanger the agreement.
"The only authority that has been recognized in the nuclear deal to verify is the IAEA," he said.
But according to diplomats, "non-certification" by Trump would lead to re-imposition of sanctions and the "political death" of the agreement.
Zarif said Iran will "consider its options" if Trump tells Congress on October 15 he believes it is not complying with the deal and it is not in US interests to stick by it.
"Iran has a number of options, which include walking away from the deal and going back with greater speed with its nuclear program, which will remain peaceful but which will not address and accept the limitations that we voluntarily accepted over our nuclear program," he said.
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.
A flood of natural disasters around the world in the last month has some aid organizations taking a different approach to fundraising to prevent donor fatigue.
For weeks, Canadians have been inundated with video of the damage caused by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in the United States and Caribbean and two devastating earthquakes in Mexico. Before that, it was the wildfires in British Columbia.
Aid agencies usually issue individual appeals for single events, such as the 2004 Asian tsunami or the 2011 earthquake in Haiti.
With so many disasters in the news right now, there can be a numbing effect for donors, said Kate Bahen, managing director of Charity Intelligence Canada.
"We're inundated with these disaster pictures. When you have one disaster, it can galvanize the donor community. When you have multiple disasters, it can paralyze," she said.
Aid agencies recognize that and several are changing their approach for the most current appeals. World Vision and Unicef are launching campaigns targeting the areas in Mexico hit by earthquakes and the devastated regions of the Caribbean that were hit by two Category 5 hurricanes.
"It's a particular challenge to get the word out and communicate the needs to Canadians when there are multiple disasters happening at the same time, especially in such quick succession," said Michael Messenger, president of World Vision Canada, a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization.
"Perhaps it's time to combine our efforts and actually have a common appeal for all of the various elements of the relief that's really critically needed for Latin America and the Caribbean. ... It will provide the opportunity to Canadians to give to a single appeal."
UNICEF Canada is also making a general appeal.
"That gives us the flexibility to go where most needed," president and CEO David Morley said.
"We're providing support to children, education and health and child-friendly spaces in all of these disasters, from Dominican Republic to Dominica to Mexico, we're working in all of these countries so we're going to do a general appeal. Because for us what matters is helping children. The country matters less than that we're able to help these children," he said.
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MSF rarely issues disaster appeals
With lives at stake and urgent timelines, charitable organizations have to distinguish themselves from others and develop a base of supporters who will donate money even when natural disasters are not making headlines.
Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders rarely issues disaster appeals. Instead, it relies on private funds and monthly donations to a general emergency fund.
The exception is extreme cases such as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, where the scale of the disaster and the response needed were overwhelming.
"We know that there are going to be emergencies every year and there are some that are going to be 'CNN' emergencies or tug on people's heart strings where they'll want to donate, but there be others that will receive less press attention or that might be more complicated and hard to understand and not end up having that same public generosity," said Stephen Cornish, executive director of Doctors Without Borders Canada.
'Generalized giving'
"There's only one or two places at a time that can make our nightly news and so I think it's important also to be able to participate in some generalized giving."
MSF sets aside 20 per cent of its response capacity every year for unknown emergencies. When a disaster strikes, they are on the ground responding to immediate needs in the crucial first 72 hours, not waiting for the launch of a fundraising appeal.
Another benefit, Cornish said, is that MSF spends less money on administration and advertising. So while some charities will spend 35 cents to raise $1, MSF spends approximately 15 cents.
Still, he acknowledges donors are moved by disasters.
"When we deal with more difficult stories. Ebola for example it was a huge crisis, it didn't bring a lot of generosity in the early days until we were able to educate people. Once people understood the story, then the generosity followed."
Making communities more resilient
Then there are groups like the Mennonite Central Committee, which likes to remind donors that it's not only a disaster response organization but also focuses on development and peace-building.
For example, MCC helped with the 2016 emergency relief after Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti but its work has continued and has largely prevented cholera in the regions it worked in.
"It's an investment in changing the preconditions, making a community more resilient and less vulnerable to the next disaster," said Rick Cober Bauman, incoming executive director at MCC Canada.
The organization is also working in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo to try to prevent violent clashes, but that's a much harder sell.
"Peace-building is harder to fundraise for. There is no question that natural disasters are more captivating for most donors," he said.
One thing most aid organizations do agree on cash is king, especially when the response time is crucial.
How to decide where to donate
Charity Intelligence Canada advises donors on where their funds are needed most, and which aid organization will do the best work.
Some of that information is already on its website. For example, CI is recommending Virgin Unite for British Virgin Island recovery, Samaritan's Purse Canada and GlobalMedic for St. Maarten and Barbuda, and Oxfam Canada in Cuba.
They base their recommendations on four criteria:
- The number of people affected: deaths, injuries, homeless.
- Economics of resilience: GDP per capita, estimated economic cost.
- Disaster preparedness: preparation time, infrastructure (building codes, breakwaters).
- Funding need for Canadian donations: does the area affected need outside humanitarian support that Canadian charities can provide?
"We look at the type of disaster. ... Famines are different from earthquakes and hurricanes. So each disaster will have its own different characteristics and that requires different aid responses," said Bahen.
Then, how can a Canadian donor help the most?
Sometimes, Bahen said, it's by supporting local organizations working on the ground. For example, during the Fort McMurray fires, Charity Intelligence Canada recommended food banks in Edmonton and Calgary.
"If we look at history, the biggest sort of Canadian appeals where Canadians gave the most, [were] in the 2004 Asian tsunami and the 2011 earthquake in Haiti. Those were record levels. Again in 2016, Fort McMurray was an unprecedented Canadian disaster response of over $189 million. So we're definitely seeing Canadians step up when needed," Bahen said.
"We're so lucky we're in Canada. We work with some of the best donors in the world and they're really hungry for information."
Some of Canada's leading climate change scientists are fighting to keep the country's northernmost research station in operation.
The Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) in Eureka, Nunavut, tracks atmospheric data that no other research station can, given its High Arctic latitude, only 1,110 kilometres from the North Pole.
There, researchers study ozone depletion, and how the thawing Arctic is contributing to climate change, as well as other polar science.
But with PEARL's core funding set to run out this year, scientists are warning if PEARL closes, there's no filling the void.
"You're in this part of the world that's very significant for all these different global environmental challenges," said Dan Weaver, a PhD student at the University of Toronto who has conducted research at PEARL since 2012.
"From climate change to ozone depletion, to even transport of pollution we have that unique piece of the puzzle to offer the world."
PEARL has been funded for the last five years by the Climate Change and Atmospheric Research Initiative, but the federal government has not renewed that program.
Scientists say there aren't other funding sources that PEARL can tap into because its work is so specific in terms of its atmospheric research mandate.
Weaver is part of Evidence for Democracy, a not-for-profit group that's launched a petition calling on the federal government to commit to $1.5 million in annual funding for PEARL.
Scientists say if they can't get more funding, they will have to pull the plug on the research station in May.
Harper government's 'war on science'
This isn't the first time a funding shortfall has threatened the future of PEARL.
In 2012, cuts under the Harper government saw researchers come within 20 days of beginning a shutdown of the laboratory, until last-minute funding came through from the Climate Change and Atmospheric Research Initiative (CCAR).
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One of the more vocal proponents to try to save PEARL at the time was Liberal MP Kirsty Duncan now the federal minister of Science.
"This is a government that has a war on science, a war on the environment," Duncan said of the Harper government in the House of Commons on Oct. 29, 2012.
"The government has cut the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory in the far North, which looks at ozone, at climate change. This year we have had the greatest melting, ever, of sea ice in the High Arctic. Last year, an ozone hole was discovered that was two million square kilometres.
"Why would the government cut a research station at a time when major environmental changes are taking place?"
Duncan even presented a petition earlier that year for the Harper government to fund PEARL.
'A comprehensive approach'
Asked Friday why her government is now cutting funding to the same research station she fought to save, or what's changed since her plea, Duncan sidestepped the question, saying she's working on "a comprehensive approach."
"I've been many times to the Arctic. That's why I'm so focused on creating a comprehensive, thoughtful approach to Arctic research, and one that will include Indigenous voices," Duncan told CBC.
"The previous government used [the Climate Change and Atmospheric Research Initiative] as a one-off solution to climate change. I am working on a comprehensive approach along with my colleagues."
Duncan did not say whether her approach includes saving PEARL.
One-of-a-kind station
Duncan also mentioned the new Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, as an example of the government's commitment to climate change science. Scientists say, while there's nothing wrong with CHARS, it won't fill the void left by PEARL.
"The distance between those two stations is enormous," said Dalhousie University's Jim Drummond, the lead investigator at PEARL.
"It's roughly the distance from Toronto and Atlanta," he said. "Anybody who thinks you can make statements about what's going on in Toronto by measuring things in Atlanta, I think would be laughed out of court."
PhD candidate Dan Weaver says CHARS just doesn't have the same mandate as PEARL.
"There's this whole suite of instruments at PEARL that measure the atmosphere, and also contribute the northernmost data sets to a variety of international networks," Weaver said.
"Those instruments are not at CHARS and they're not planned to be at CHARS because it doesn't have that research mandate to do atmospheric work."
In April 2017, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the body that divvies up physical science funding to researchers, universities, and scientists across the country, recommended the government continue funding to study climate change and the atmosphere through the Climate Change and Atmospheric Research Initiative.
"Without these funds ... certain research sites, such as the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory, would no longer exist," the organization reported.
"Such research locations are considered critical to understanding and predicting changes in the climate and atmosphere, as they provide opportunities to collect large amounts of data and/or continuous data that may be used for comparison with other countries and/or over time."
By Alexandra Alper and Lizbeth Diaz MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexicans packed churches on Sunday to pray for the victims of the country's deadliest quake in 32 years as rescue teams searched against the odds for any survivors trapped under rubble six days after the tremor shook Mexico City and nearby states. As a fresh aftershock jolted southwestern Mexico on Sunday, the death toll from Tuesday's 7.1 magnitude earthquake climbed to 319 people. With thousands of buildings damaged, survivors slept on the street outside their homes and estimates of the cost of the earthquake ran as high as $8 billion. Many have been traumatized by the second major quake to strike Mexico City in their lifetime after a devastating 1985 tremor killed an estimated 10,000 people. In the vast Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the north of the capital, the national shrine of the majority Catholic country, thousands of people gathered to pray. "I came to ask God for strength for those who lost loved ones and for the Virgin to watch over us and keep us safe," said 69-year-old Maria Gema Ortiz. "Thanks to all those who came from other countries to help. Thanks to all and long live Mexico!" Graphic: http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/MEXICO-QUAKE/010050WF215/QUAKE-MEXICO.jpg Makeshift places of worship have popped up next to the crumbling cement and mangled steel of collapsed buildings in the deeply religious country. In upscale Roma, one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods of the capital, a priest led mass for nearly two dozen people under a blue tarp while a nun handed out small cards with an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, who according to the Catholic faith first appeared to an Aztec convert in 1531. President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has visited the scene of the devastation, has urged Mexicans to turn their attention to rebuilding and many schools were expected to reopen on Monday. Rescuers narrowed their search to a handful of buildings in the sprawling capital of 20 million people, using advanced audio equipment to detect signs of life beneath tonnes of rubble, with help from teams from as far afield as Israel and Japan. "The search and rescue in Mexico City continues as a priority, with cooperation from national and international groups," tweeted Miguel Angel Mancera, Mexico City's mayor. RISING FRUSTRATION With Mexico facing a presidential election next year, the government's response to the disaster is under close scrutiny. Frustration has grown among the thousands left homeless by Tuesday's quake, with critics saying the government's reaction pales in comparison with an outpouring of volunteer support, from rescue work to food donations. "We have received no help from authorities," said Antonio Ramirez, who was conducting a survey of damaged homes in the historic Xochimilco district in the south of the capital. "The help has come from ordinary people," the 57-year-old retired teacher said. "Soldiers, instead of carrying picks and shovels, brought their guns." Hitting back against criticism of his government, Pena Nieto has promised ongoing support to those affected. The government's resources, however, are being stretched by the magnitude of the disaster. Tuesday's quake, which completely flattened dozens of structures in Mexico City, was the second major earthquake to strike the country of 127 million people this month. A massive 8.1 magnitude quake on Sept. 7 off the southwestern coast of Mexico killed around 100 people, most of them in the nearby states of Oaxaca and Chiapas. A series of aftershocks since then have sown panic. The latest tremor, of 5.7 magnitude, struck on Sunday off the west coast, with its epicenter 80 km (50 miles) south-southwest of Tonala, in Chiapas, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of significant damage. Many more quakes are likely, warned Xyoli Perez Campos, director of Mexico's National Seismological Service. "We have already recorded more than 4,300 aftershocks," Campos said. "So more aftershocks are to come. What we don't know is if they are going to be of significant magnitude." 'LIFE MUST GO ON' In Mexico City, the search for survivors from Tuesday's quake continued in a ruined office building in the Roma neighborhood and in a five-story apartment building in historic Tlalpan. Authorities called off efforts in the upper-middle class Linda Vista zone after pulling 10 bodies from the rubble, while work at the Tlalpan building was briefly halted on Saturday by a magnitude 6.2 aftershock. Roberto Hernandez, 62, leading a group of Mexico's famed "mole" rescue workers at the collapsed office building in Roma, said he believed 30 people were trapped in the rubble, though it was not clear how many were sill alive. "We can't guarantee there is life but we can guarantee we'll turn over every last stone," Hernandez said, adding that one person was found alive in a crushed building 15 days after the 1985 earthquake. In tents set up in different parts of the city, psychologists offered mental health support to traumatized survivors and rescuers. Acts of solidarity came from all corners of Mexican society. While lessons were expected to resume on Monday, at least 7,000 schools across the country have been damaged by the quakes. The Mexican government says at least 350 of them need to be completely rebuilt. Like many residents, 36-year-old Claudia Avila was determined to return to some semblance of normality. "We are afraid, but life must go on," said Avila, whose sons are 9 and 16. "Tomorrow I will take my children back to school. They know that if something happens, they must protect themselves. It has been a rude awakening." Pena Nieto highlighted his government's aid for survivors on a Saturday tour of Jiquipilas in Chiapas, which was badly hit by the Sept. 7 quake. "Be assured that the federal government is here, the state and local governments, supporting you, hand in hand, to rebuild," he said. But many Mexicans are wary of politicians' using the quake to score political points ahead of 2018 elections that are seen as a referendum on the patchy record of the Institutional Revolutionary Party since its return to power in 2012. Francisco Honoraro, a 46-year-old farmer in Xochimilco, is living on the streets while he waits for authorities to assess damage to his home. "This is going to become political, a campaign issue and a source of profit," he said. "'If you support me and you vote for me, we will help you.'" (Additional Reporting by Michael O'Boyle; Writing by Anthony Esposito and Daniel Flynn; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Sandra Maler)
By Brendan O'Brien ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Protests in St. Louis over the acquittal of a white former policeman who killed a black man could impede the city's bid to attract Amazon.com's second headquarters, academics and business executives said. Marked by scuffles, teargas and property damage, the protests have been unfolding as the city, which has a history of social unrest, is vying for the lucrative Amazon deal. "There is no good timing for something like this and it will have an impact," said Didi Caldwell, founding principal with Global Location Strategies in South Carolina, which helps companies choose locations for new businesses and expansion. Amazon, the world's biggest online retailer, said this month that it planned to build a $5 billion second headquarters that could bring 50,000 new jobs to the winning city. An Amazon spokesman declined to discuss the site search. In its call for proposals from cities, Amazon said a "compatible cultural and community environment" that included diversity, a high quality of life and stable business climate were key. The company intends to make a decision in 2018. William Collins, a Vanderbilt University economic historian who has studied the aftermath of the 1960s race riots in the United States, said the impact on a city's ability to draw new employers depended on how companies view such incidents. Does it suggest a deeply rooted problem that's likely to make living, working, and investing in a particular location less attractive or less profitable than alternatives? If so, it can have lasting implications, Collins said. A September 16 ruling found former St. Louis policeman Jason Stockley, 36, not guilty of first-degree murder in the 2011 killing of Anthony Lamar Smith, 24. 'NATIONAL ISSUE' In August, after clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, over plans to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, regional economic development officials wrote to site selection companies saying the violence did not define the city. St. Louis Economic Development Partnership officials said they were aware of racial tensions highlighted by the protests but argued that the problem was not unique to St. Louis. "The protests, although the timing of them was not the best for St. Louis, are really indicative of a national issue that needs to be looked at," the partnership's Chief Executive Sheila Sweeney said on Thursday. The day before, protesters at a high-end shopping mall blocked traffic and chanted, "No justice, no profits." Other cities that have indicated they are in the running for the Amazon site include Seattle, Dallas, Houston and Denver. Charlotte, North Carolina, which saw riots last year after the fatal shooting of a black man by a police officer, has not seen business opt against moving there. Officials, who noted that the city's efforts to break down bias led to the protests, said quantifying any lasting impact was difficult. "It's a troubling challenge of our time," said Dianne Chase, spokeswoman for the Charlotte Regional Partnership, a public/private economic development organization trying to attract Amazon. "We're not alone, it's most unfortunate to say." St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson declined to speak on the issue, but told reporters this week that the city had a legacy of institutional racism and needed to move forward with more jobs and stronger civilian oversight of the police. St. Louis is touting its central U.S. location, riverways, interstate highways and rail lines, vibrant technology environment and urban setting, as its main attractions. While the city is a transportation hub with a low cost of living, good housing stock and access to research universities, the unrest could hurt its chances even if it made Amazon's final list, said Global Location Strategies' Caldwell. Companies looking for locations will never announce they have eliminated a city for reasons like racial unrest, but that would likely be the case, she said. St. Louis residents expressed concern on social media over economic impact related to the unrest. People were saying, 'Unless the city cleans up its act, well never get Amazon,' said Lindenwood University economics professor Howard Wall. "Sometimes the economics are sort of a wash and it just becomes about where am I more comfortable doing business and living," Caldwell said. The St. Louis metro area has been a hot spot for the national debate over racial bias in law enforcement since Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was killed in 2014 by a white police officer in nearby Ferguson. The Brown shooting sparked riots and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien; Additional reporting by Chris Kenning in Chicago and Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Ben Klayman, Toni Reinhold)
Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blog spot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.
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..UK Media Watch..24 September '17..Former PLO adviser Diana Buttu has a history of not telling the truth about Israel.During interviews in the early to mid 2000s, Buttu claimed (on several media outlets) that between the period of 1997 until the year 2000 there wasnt a single Israeli who died of a suicide bombing inside Israel. However, as CAMERA revealed at the time, 24 Israeli civilians were killed in six separate Palestinian suicide attacks during that period.During the 2009-09 Israeli war with Hamas, Buttu bizarrely alleged, during interviews on CNN and Fox News, that rockets fired from Gaza do not have explosive heads. In fact, Palestinian rockets carried between 9-18 kilograms of explosives.At a Harvard conference in 2012, she repeated the lie about rockets without explosive heads and added another one, claiming that there werent any grad rockets fired in 2008 and 2009. Actually, as CAMERA revealed, dozens were fired.More recently, CAMERA caught Buttu in another lie, complaining to journalist David Remnick (in a Sept.article) that the Israeli hit show Fauda never mentions the word occupation, and that the series doesnt show a single checkpoint. However, contrary to Buttus claim, the word occupation is heard in Fauda and checkpoints do appear.Her latest smear against Israel was published in the
JUST WOW!! A bumper crop of really terrific new releases over the last few weeks. While i was away, and had my back turned. Just faaaar tooooo much new stuff to play today, and do it all any justice. Croiky! Maybe some more next time. ;^) Please hit us up on the Interactive Thingy (over there ==>). We'd love to hear from you!!
Slither (Theme)
Anoushka Shankar and Karsh Kale - Breathing Under Water - Manhattan Records, 2007 Nike
Pauline Oliveros - Deep Listening - New Albion, 1989 Diskriminatsiya
Frank Horvat / Christopher Lee & Samantha Chang - Horvat: The Current Agenda - Independent, 2017 - Horvat: The Current Agenda - Sunflower
Frank Horvat / Daniel Morphy & Gregory Millar - Horvat: The Current Agenda - Independent, 2017 - Horvat: The Current Agenda - Lust (feat. Laura Swankey)
Frank Horvat - Love in 6 Stages - Independent, 2017 - Love in 6 Stages - Reborn In Virginia
Laraaji - Bring On The Sun - All Saints Records, 2017 - Bring On The Sun - Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram
Utsav Lal - The Fluid Piano - Fluid Piano Recordings, 2016 Dog Eat Dog
The Souljazz Orchestra - Under Burning Skies - Strut Records, 2017 - Under Burning Skies - Lufunki
The Souljazz Orchestra - Under Burning Skies - Strut Records, 2017 - Under Burning Skies - Holla Holla
The Souljazz Orchestra - Under Burning Skies - Strut Records, 2017 - Under Burning Skies - Adawe Boogie
The Souljazz Orchestra - Under Burning Skies - Strut Records, 2017 - Under Burning Skies - Aduna Jarul Naawo (feat. Elage Mbaye, vocals)
The Souljazz Orchestra - Under Burning Skies - Strut Records, 2017 - Under Burning Skies - Samba Do Suenho
Eddie Palmieri - Sabiduria (Wisdom) - Ropeadope Records, 2017 Jibarita y Su Son
Eddie Palmieri - Sabiduria (Wisdom) - Ropeadope Records, 2017 Horn OK Please [pre-release track]
Autorickshaw - Meter - Tala-Wallah Records, 2017-Sep-28 release - Meter - Hare Shiva [pre-release track]
Autorickshaw - Meter - Tala-Wallah Records, 2017-Sep-28 release - Meter - God Shall Wipe All Tears Away
Trio Da Kali and Kronos Quartet - Ladilikan - World Circuit Records, 2017 - Ladilikan - Sunjata
Trio Da Kali and Kronos Quartet - Ladilikan - World Circuit Records, 2017 - Ladilikan - N.E.P.A. (Never Expect Power Always)
Tony Allen - N.E.P.A. (Never Expect Power Always) - Independent, 2017 (Bandcamp re-release, orig. Mercury, 1984) - N.E.P.A. (Never Expect Power Always) - Ariya (Psyche Juju Mix)
Tony Allen - Black Voices - Independent, 2017 (Bandcamp re-release, orig. Comet Records, 1999) - Black Voices - The Only Way
Tricky - ununiform - False Idols / !K7 Records, 2017 - ununiform - Method Jajouka
Method of Defiance - Column 3: Babylon Deconstruction - M.O.D. Technologies, 2017 - Column 3: Babylon Deconstruction - Method 1
Method of Defiance - Column 3: Babylon Deconstruction - M.O.D. Technologies, 2017 - Column 3: Babylon Deconstruction - Sad Emission
Hoppy Kamiyama + Bill Laswell - A Navel City/No One Is There - Kanapi Records, 2004
DOTHAN, Ala. Kharon Davis spent a decade in jail awaiting trial . On Friday, a jury in this southern Alabama town deliberated less than three hours before finding him guilty in the fatal shooting of Peter Dwayne Reaves.
Mr. Daviss case had attracted national attention because of the extreme length of his incarceration while he was still presumed innocent. His trial was delayed multiple times because of misplaced evidence, conflicts of interest and his own dissatisfaction with successive teams of lawyers.
Mr. Davis, 33, is black, but the jury was all white, in a county with a long history of striking blacks from juries. Jury selection took place on Monday and Tuesday, and Mr. Daviss lawyers complained to the judge about the racial makeup of the jury, unsuccessfully arguing that a new pool be assembled.
Mr. Davis was one of three men charged in Mr. Reavess death. One of the others, Lorenzo Stacey, was acquitted. The third, Kevin Bernard McCloud, took a plea bargain in which he agreed to plead guilty and testify against Mr. Davis, a childhood friend, if prosecutors did not seek the death penalty. He is serving a 99-year sentence.
The three men had gone to Mr. Reavess apartment on a night in June 2007 looking to buy marijuana. But the deal quickly turned into a shooting. Mr. McCloud was wounded and Mr. Reaves was killed.
The prosecution was forced to make a largely circumstantial case against Mr. Davis, who they said fired the gun. None of Mr. Daviss DNA was found in Mr. Reavess home, where the shooting took place. There were no fingerprints on the stolen 9-millimeter handgun that was used in the murder. And there were no witnesses who saw Mr. Davis shoot Mr. Reaves.
Whats more, extensive delays can erode any case, as memories falter and witnesses disappear or die. In this case, two key witnesses for the prosecution, including Mr. McCloud, changed their stories.
They stunned the courtroom by testifying that they had lied years ago to authorities about the case.
One, Larry Thompson, appeared on Thursday in an orange jumpsuit, handcuffs and leg chains. He is serving a 20-year sentence for an unrelated crime. After briefly testifying, he abruptly refused to continue, saying he feared for his life.
Mr. Thompson was a child at the time of Mr. Reavess death, and was supposed to help bolster the prosecutions theory that the men had planned to rob Mr. Reaves from the beginning.
In the 2009 trial of Mr. Stacey, Mr. Thompson testified that he saw three men wrestling with Mr. Reaves, and that they pulled him back into the apartment after he tried to flee. He also testified that he heard Mr. Reaves yelling, You are killing me! You are killing me! after he heard the gunshots.
But this week, he denied that account.
That was a lie, Mr. Thompson testified on Thursday, adding that he saw only two men fighting with Mr. Reaves. I dont want to commit perjury. Ive been doing it for so long.
He added: I was scared for my life, and I am scared for my life today, your Honor. Just take me back to prison. I am not testifying.
But it was the second main witness, Mr. McCloud, who stood to do the most damage to the prosecutions case.
In the hours after the shooting, Mr. McCloud gave the police conflicting accounts of what happened when Mr. Reaves was killed, ultimately suggesting that Mr. Davis had stormed into Mr. Reavess home and started shooting.
But on Thursday, Mr. McCloud changed his story again, telling the jury that Mr. Davis had waited in the car while he went in to buy drugs. That was also Mr. Daviss account, according to his lawyers.
After the shooting, Mr. McCloud told Frank Meredith, a Dothan police officer, that he had just stepped into Mr. Reavess apartment when he heard Mr. Davis yell an order to get down and felt a pain in the back of his neck before losing consciousness. Mr. McCloud had been shot by a bullet that passed through him and struck Mr. Reaves.
Mr. McCloud testified Thursday that he implicated Mr. Davis then because Mr. Meredith threatened and coerced him, using a racial slur. He added that the police officer had pushed the idea that Mr. Davis did the shooting.
He was putting words in my mouth, Mr. McCloud testified. So, to get out of there, I just went along with what he said.
On the stand, Mr. Meredith firmly denied Mr. McClouds account.
A distant relative of Mr. Daviss, who owned the gun used in the shooting, testified that she had noticed it missing from under her bedroom mattress about three weeks before the shooting, when she hosted a cookout that Mr. Davis attended. She said that he had entered her bedroom at one point, to use the bathroom there.
The defense called no witnesses. Not one piece of forensic evidence connects Kharon Davis with being in that apartment, one of Mr. Daviss lawyers, Thomas M. Goggans, said, referring to Mr. Reavess home. There are unanswered questions and doubts throughout.
Prosecutors had initially sought the death penalty in Mr. Daviss case, but in January a new district attorney took office who had a conflict of interest: He had previously represented one of the other two men charged in the murder.
The state attorney generals office took over the case and dropped pursuit of the death penalty.
Mr. Davis was still tried for capital murder, but found guilty of a lesser charge, felony murder, which carries a sentence of 20 years to life. Circuit Court Judge Kevin Moulton had instructed the jury to consider the lesser charge if they could not reach unanimity about capital murder.
Malcolm Reaves, one of Mr. Reavess four brothers, expressed relief that there was finally a verdict. The whole case, the 10 years, it all took a heavy toll on our family, he said. Im happy today because my brother finally got justice. My mama says she can sleep at night now.
Chrycynthia Davis, Mr. Daviss mother, said after the verdict that she was angry. The state did not make their case and they tried to coerce Kevin and make him lie, she said, referring to Mr. McCloud. This is not justice. They railroaded my son.
One of Mr. Daviss lawyers, Dustin Fowler, said Mr. Davis planned to appeal. Sentencing was scheduled for Oct. 17.
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Arizona does not have to reveal who provides its execution drugs, a judge ruled Thursday in a lawsuit arguing that the information would help the public determine whether the death penalty is carried out humanely and promote confidence in the criminal justice system.
The decision marked a defeat for news organizations, including The Associated Press, that sued to get the information released. U.S. District Judge Murray Snow ruled that the media outlets didn't show they had a First Amendment right to knowing the suppliers of lethal injection drugs.
The judge said the First Amendment protects the right of people to argue about the death penalty, but it doesn't require Arizona to reveal "protected information to the detriment of the state's ability to carry out its constitutional, lawfully imposed criminal punishments."
The lawsuit followed the 2014 execution of Joseph Rudolph Wood, who was given 15 doses of a 2-drug combination over nearly 23 hours in what his attorney called a botched execution.
Like other states, Arizona is struggling to buy execution drugs after U.S. and European pharmaceutical companies began blocking the use of their products in lethal injections.
2 years ago, Arizona tried to illegally import an anesthetic that has been used to carry out executions but is no longer manufactured by companies approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The state never obtained the shipment because federal agents stopped it at the Phoenix airport.
The judge also rejected a bid to order the state to divulge the qualifications of people who carry out capital punishment in Arizona, saying revealing those details could lead to their identification. He noted that state law protects the identities of executioners and death penalty drug suppliers.
Snow said it's logical that some drug suppliers would decline to do business with the state if their identities were not kept secret.
Andrew Wilder, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Corrections, which carries out executions, said the agency had no immediate comment on the decision.
At a 1-day trial in July on the media lawsuit, an Arizona prison official testified that suppliers of lethal injection drugs have refused to sell to the state, even though a law protects the companies from being publicly identified.
The prison official said suppliers fear that selling lethal injection drugs would hurt their business. An attorney for the news organizations offered a different explanation - that the drug companies simply don't want to be involved in executions.
The state said a law prohibiting the disclosure of identifying information about anyone serving on an execution team extends the same sort of confidentiality to suppliers of lethal injection drugs.
Other news organizations that filed the lawsuit are The Arizona Republic, Guardian News & Media, Arizona Daily Star, CBS 5 (KPHO-TV) and 12 News (KPNX-TV).
The news organizations won a partial victory last year when Snow ruled that the state must allow witnesses to view the entirety of an execution, including each time drugs are administered. Witnesses to Wood's death couldn't see that he was receiving additional doses of the drugs after the first ones failed to kill him.
A new execution protocol issued in January will let witnesses see the injections through a camera in a room where the drugs are loaded into an inmate's IV line.
Arizona, which has 118 prisoners on death row, saw executions put on hold for 2 1/2 years after the 2014 death of Wood.
But the state is now able to resume executions after a separate lawsuit that challenged the way Arizona carries out the death penalty was settled this summer. No executions are scheduled.
| Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Associated Press, September 23, 2017
signed the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty on 20 September 2017 ( https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/CN/2017/CN.570.2017-Eng.pdf [treaties.un.org]).
Madagascar ratified Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 21 September 2017 ( ratified Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 21 September 2017 ( https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/CN/2017/CN.587.2017-Eng.pdf [treaties.un.org]), together with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.
The UN treaty event is currently going on in New York, at the beginning of the UN General Assembly, and it is a time when states often ratify international treaties https://treaties.un.org/pages/TreatyEvents.aspx?path=Treaty/Focus/Page1_en.xml [treaties.un.org].
Last year, at the same time, Togo and the Dominican Republic also accessed to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
www.worldcoalition.org] For more information on the World Coalition's campaign for worldwide ratification: www.worldcoalition.org/protocol
| Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com
Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!
"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, September 22, 2017Gambia: President Barrow Signs Abolition Of Death Penalty Treaty
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed John Battaglia's claims of incompetence late Wednesday, clearing the way for the state of Texas to put the Dallas child killer to death more than 16 years after his crimes.
Over the past year, Battaglia's defense team and lawyers for the state have argued over whether Battaglia knows why he is to die and that his execution is imminent Texas' two requirements for death row inmates to receive lethal injection.
In 2001, Battaglia shot his two daughters eight times in his Deep Ellum loft shortly after his divorce from his wife, Mary Jean Pearle. Pearle, in the midst of an attempt to get Battaglia's probation for assault revoked because her husband was harassing her on the phone, was on the phone with Battaglia as he shot their daughters, according to court testimony.
After killing the girls, Liberty and Mary Faith, as detailed in a 2002 Dallas Observer feature, Battaglia drove to an East Dallas tattoo parlor and got two rose tattoos to represent the daughters he'd just murdered. He then left an answering message for his ex-wife: "Goodnight, my little babies. I hope you are resting in a different place. I love you," he said.
At a lower court hearing in November, three psychologists who've examined Battaglia testified that he has from delusions that make him believe he did not kill Mary Faith and Liberty.
A fourth psychologist, testifying for the state, said that he believed Battaglia was faking or exaggerating his symptoms.
State District Judge Robert Burns agreed with the fourth psychologist, ruling Nov. 18 that Battaglia's execution could go forward.
Battaglia's first scheduled execution date was March 30, 2016. He received a reprieve from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seven hours before he was scheduled to die when the 5th Circuit agreed with Battaglia that he deserved a court-appointed attorney to investigate whether he was fit to be executed.
Now that Texas' highest criminal court has ruled Battaglia fit for lethal injection, it is up to Burns to set an execution date.
Source: Dallas Observer , Stephen Young, Sept. 21, 2017. Stephen Young has written about Dallas news for the Observer since 2014. He's a Dallas native and a graduate of the University of North Texas.
Battaglia ruled competent for execution
Case sent back to lower court to schedule new date for lethal injection
An appeals court has found John Battaglia is mentally fit to be executed for killing his daughters, a punishment the Dallas man has twice tried to postpone.
Battaglia made national headlines in 2001 when he shot his daughters, 9-year-old Faith and 6-year-old Liberty, at his Deep Ellum loft while their mother listened on the phone.
"No, Daddy! Don't do it!" Faith pleaded, seconds before her father pulled the trigger in an act of revenge against his ex-wife.
He was first scheduled for execution in March 2016 but was granted a stay after he sought new legal counsel to help appeal his sentence.
His execution was rescheduled for December 2016 after a state district judge found Battaglia mentally fit to be put to death. But the Court of Criminal Appeals granted him a stay to evaluate his competency.
The appeals court said Wednesday that Battaglia is mentally fit and the Dallas County trial court can set a new execution date.
Court records show Battaglia is "convinced that his trial and conviction were a sham" and that his death sentence is part of a conspiracy involving "the KKK, child molesters and homosexual lawyers."
Mental health experts testified during a competency hearing in November that Battaglia was likely faking or exaggerating his delusions in order to save his life.
The appeals court affirmed that assessment and supported the trial court's ruling of competence.
"There is support in the record that Battaglia is malingering," Justice Bert Richardson wrote in the appeals court finding.
Justice Elsa Alcala was the lone dissenting voice. She wrote in her dissent that the case should be snet back to the trial court for further clarity.
A defendant should not be executed when he "lacks a rational understanding of the reason for his execution due to delusions stemming from a severe mental illness," Alcala wrote.
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
: Dallas Morning News, September 23, 2017
U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley joined leaders of 127 other United Nations member states in supporting reform of the international body in a recent U.S.- hosted event.
The nations pledged support for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reform agenda, calling for reform in the pillars of peace and security, development and management reform. They signed a ten-point declaration committing to strong partnerships in this matter and stronger collaboration in mandate delivery overall.
The United Nations was founded on truly noble goals, said President Trump. Yet in recent years, the United Nations has not reached its full potential because of bureaucracy and mismanagement. We commend the Secretary-General and his call for the United Nations to focus more on people and less on bureaucracy:
We seek a United Nations that regains the trust of the people around the world. In order to achieve this, the United Nations must hold every level of management accountable, protect whistle-blowers and focus on results rather than on process.
The ten-point plan called for a reduction in redundancy throughout and across the United Nations system and greater transparency and predictability in its planning and budget functions.
The declaration also called for concrete changes in the United Nations system to better align its work on humanitarian response, development, and sustaining peace initiatives.
To honor the people of our nations, we must ensure that no one and no member state shoulders a disproportionate share of the burden, and that's militarily or financially. We also ask that every peacekeeping mission have clearly defined goals and metrics for evaluating success.
We pledge to be partners in your work, said President Trump. And I am confident that if we work together and champion truly bold reforms, the United Nations will emerge as a stronger, more effective, more just, and greater force for peace and harmony in the world.
The U.S. hopes to bring the United Nations to complete consensus on these goals and calls on some 70 remaining member states to sign the declaration, said Ambassador Haley.
In the coming weeks and months, we will be considering the Secretary-Generals broader vision. This is an opportunity for all of us to seize this moment and ensure that the United Nations remains relevant. Lets make it a new day at the United Nations.
In his September 19 address to the UN General Assembly, President Donald Trump stressed the United Nations' success depends "on a coalition of strong and independent nations that embrace their sovereignty to promote security, prosperity, and peace for themselves and for the world."
"We do not expect diverse countries to share the same cultures, traditions, or even systems of government," said President Trump. "But we do expect all nations. . .to respect the interests of their own people and the rights of every other sovereign nation."
"Strong, sovereign nations let diverse countries with different values, different cultures, and different dreams not just coexist, but work side by side on the basis of mutual respect," said President Trump. "Strong, sovereign nations let their people take ownership of the future and control their own destiny. And strong, sovereign nations allow individuals to flourish in the fullness of the life intended by God."
The United States, said President Trump, does "not seek to impose [its] way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to watch."
The U.S. Constitution, the oldest in the world, marked its 230th anniversary this month. "This timeless document," said President Trump, "has been the foundation of peace, prosperity, and freedom for the Americans and for countless millions around the globe whose own countries have found inspiration in its respect for human nature, human dignity, and the rule of law."
America does more than speak for the values expressed in the United Nations charter. "Our citizens have paid the ultimate price to defend our freedom and the freedom of many nations," said President Trump. After the U.S. and its allies emerged victorious from the bloodiest war in history, they did not seek territorial expansion, or attempt to. . .impose their way of life on others. "Instead," said President Trump, "we helped build institutions such as [the UN] to defend sovereignty, security, and prosperity for all."
"We want harmony and friendship, not conflict and strife. We are guided by outcomes, not ideology. We have a policy of principled realism, rooted in shared goals, interests, and values."
"This is our hope," said President Trump.
A provincial police chief has defended the storming of a peaceful labor protest by his anti-riot forces in the Iranian provincial capital city of Arak.
The police forces are in no way against workers livelihood but, in some cases, they are dutybound to use their legal means to preserve law and order, said Commander Kioumars Azizi.
According to media reports, as well as pictures and video clips published on social media, the anti-riot police forces attacked two industrial complexes, Hepco and Azarab, in Arak, on Tuesday, September 19 and arrested several protesters.
Dozens of workers were wounded and transferred to hospitals, Free Trade Union of Iranian Workers reported.
Later, on Thursday, the director of Cooperation, Labor and Social Welfare in the Central province of Arak, Mohammad Taqi Abaei confirmed that four workers were detained but freed hours later.
Based on a report by a local news website, Arak Emrooz (Arak Today), workers at Hepco blocked the citys railway briefly, while their colleagues at industrial unit Azarab, blocked Tehran-Arak highway to highlight their plight.
Azarab and Hepco are two privatized industrial units where wages have not been paid for the past four to six months. Earlier, workers had also repeatedly held peaceful rallies to protest delayed wages.
Nearly two thousand workers are employed by the two privatized industrial units.
Referring to the latest protests, the Iran Labor News Agency, ILNA, cited the Azizi, as saying, The police forces were reluctantly forced to use their legal means to control the situation.
However, ILNA, quoting Rouhanis government representative in the Central province, Mohammad Taqi Abaei, saying, The reason that we are witnessing such clashes and restlessness is the fact that the entrepreneurs at Azarab and Hepco have not respected their commitments.
According to some local reports on social media, police had assured that the workers can protest without any harassment, yet, all of a sudden, the anti-riot forces stormed their gathering, beating them with batons.
Some of the anti-riot forces, riding motorbikes, drove in to disperse the protesters, while firing tear gas and beating them with sticks, the reports say.
In one of the video clips published on social media, protesters are heard chanting slogans, shouting Poor workers dont deserve to be battered.
The police and anti-riot forces went on the attack and beat and arrested anyone they could and took them to the security police detention center [in Arak, 173 miles south of Tehran], A labor activist who asked not to be identified for security reasons told the Center for Human Rights in Iran, CHRI. We dont know how many are in detention or what they have been charged with. But we think there are 20 to 30 in custody.
However, the reports on police using violence to disperse the protesters have not been yet confirmed or denied by authorities. The state-funded ILNA reported on the protests but omitted the use of force by the police.
Meanwhile, an Iranian member of Canadas Labor Congress and a consultant at the International Trade Union Confederations, Mehdi Kouhestaninejad told Radio Farda, Apparently, we are witnessing a new wave of suppression by the regime against workers who dare to protest and raise their voices demanding their rights.
Kouhestaninejad insists that the recent widespread use of anti-riot police against Hepco and Azarab workers was unprecedented.
Referring to the latest developments, Kouhestaninejad notes, The struggle of workers for their rights has reached the point of no return. Despite all attacks, the workers are not going to give-in and retreat.
Workers protests all over Iran are spreading fast and it will mean new crisis confronting the government, he added.
According to Article 27 of the Islamic Republics Constitution, Public assemblies and marches may be freely held, provided arms are not carried and that they are not detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam.
The workers were unarmed and their gathering had nothing to do with Islam and yet it was the police who were armed and fired shots into the air, a labor activist confided with CHRI. I hope the judiciary will look into these unconstitutional actions by the police.
Independent labor unions are banned in Iran, strikers are often fired and risk being detained, and labor leaders face long prison sentences on trumped up national security charges.
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Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has responded to the latest Iranian ballistic missile test by warning of the day when a similar missile can carry a nuclear warhead.
Imagine what would happen if Iran would obtain nuclear weapons, something which it strives to do. We must not allow this to happen, said Liberman.
Iran showed images of a missile test, claiming it has a range of 2,000 kilometers and can carry a payload of multiple warheads, up to 1,800 kilograms.
The Tasnim news agency close to Islamic Revolution Guard Corps has labelled the missile "Israel's nightmare".
President Donald Trump and the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson have also condemned Irans action.
Liberman on September 23 accused Iran of direct provocation and a potential threat to the free world.
This Iranian missile launch is an act of provocation and defiance against the United States and its allies, as well as an attempt to test them, Liberman said, adding that it is also further proof of Iranian aspirations to become a world power that threatens not only the Middle East, but all the countries of the free world.
President Trump, who has repeatedly questioned the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, is said to be in a decision making process that would determine what the U.S. will ultimately do with the agreement.
In the past few months, the Trump administration and the U.S. Congress have pointed to Irans ballistic missile program as a provocative and destabilizing factor, which casts doubt on Irans intentions and future behavior.
Iran maintains that its missile program has nothing to do with the nuclear deal. However, at the conclusion of negotiations of the nuclear agreement, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution urging Iran to curtail its ballistic missile program.
The UN Security Councils resolution 2231 which after the 2015 nuclear deal replaced previous UNSCs sanctions, calls upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.
The outspoken deputy speaker of Iranian parliament sees a glimmer of hope for the leaders of the Green Movement who have been under house arrest for more than six years.
Ali Motahari says he is hopeful that the Islamic Republics Supreme National Security Council, SNSC, will soon vote on lifting the house arrest. He says he is guessing that the Supreme Leader, ayatollah Ali Khamenei has changed his opinion on the case.
Motahari, a Tehran MP, who is visiting France, has also told the daily Le Monde, Many of the principalists (conservative hard-liners) who were earlier supporting the house arrests, have reached a new conclusion and believe that the continuation of the house arrests does not serve the interests of the country any longer.
Referring to a discussion he had with the Supreme Leader two years ago on the fate of house detainees, Mehdi Karroubi, 80, Mir Hossein Mousavi, 76, and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, 72, Motahari says, The Supreme Leader was against ending the house arrests, yet, after two years, the situation has changed, as Mousavi and Karroubi are suffering from health problems.
Therefore, Motahari thinks that the Supreme Leaders position on the case has probably changed.
Motahari said in the past that ayatollah Khamenei had rejected his proposal to try the Green Movement leaders in a court of law, warning, Their trial would lead to issuing a heavy verdict against them.
Besides Motahari, many other political figures have insisted that no one, but the Supreme Leader, can end the house arrests.
Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have repeatedly demanded to be tried in an open and competent court of law. Nevertheless, the judiciary has rejected their demand, arguing that the Supreme National Security Council has ordered the house arrests and it is responsible for ending or upholding the verdict.
Earlier in September, a dispute erupted between the Judiciary and Rouhanis government, as to whether the president has raised the issue of the house arrests at a National Security Council meeting or not. While the government claimed he did, the Judiciary denied it on two occasions.
Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, who were running against the incumbent in 2009 presidential election, protested the official result that declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner.
Their protest led to more than five months of demonstrations that left several killed and hundreds imprisoned.
Later, the couple along with Mehdi Karroubi and his wife, Fatemeh, were confined to their houses after they called for street demonstrations in solidarity with Arab Spring or pro-democracy movements in Egypt and Tunisia. Fatemeh Karroubi was later freed, but the trio remained under house arrest.
Now, considered opposition leaders, the detainees and specially Mr. Mousavi are regarded as leaders of the Green Movement, which demanded the reversal of the 2009 official election result.
One of the main promises President Hassan Rouhani tabled during his presidential campaigns in 2013 and 2017 was doing his utmost to lift the house arrests. However, the promise that was always followed by long cheers of the audience has not yet been fulfilled.
Meanwhile, several prominent political figures of the Islamic Republic, including reformist former president, Mohammad Khatami have joined the chorus, calling for the lifting of house arrests.
Mohammad Khatami appealed to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to end the house arrest of two reformist leaders who have been restrained without charge for more than six years.
Khamenei has frequently criticized the 2009 protests as "sedition" and has said that the leaders of the protests must repent before he would consider releasing them.
Karroubi, 80, is reportedly in poor health and has been hospitalized several times in recent weeks. Some analysts have expressed concern that if he dies in custody, new protests could ensue.
Furthermore, in a letter to President Hassan Rouhani, several Religious-Nationalist activists inside Iran have called for the immediate release of the leaders of the Green Movement.
In another interview with French weekly, Le point, Ali Motahari has maintained that the members of the SNSC have all agreed that the question of house arrests should be addressed, one way or another.
Tehrans MP also asserted that Mousavis and Karroubi should either be freed or tried in an open court of law, adding, Of course, the other party [former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] has to be tried, as well [and answer the charges against him].
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24
Trend:
A helicopter of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Emergency Situations flew to Georgias Samtskhe-Javakheti region to assist in extinguishing forest fires in accordance with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs order upon the Georgian governments appeal.
The helicopter, equipped with special equipment, started to extinguish forest fires, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a message Sept. 24.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24
Trend:
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Khawaja Asif on the sidelines of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said Sept. 24.
Recalling that Pakistan was one of the first countries to recognize the restoration of Azerbaijan's state independence, Mammadyarov added that this year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
He expressed satisfaction with the high level development of cooperation in both bilateral and multilateral platforms between the two countries.
Mammadyarov mentioned that high-level mutual visits played an important role in advancing friendship and fraternity relations and in this regard, highlighted the visit of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Pakistan in February 2017.
In his turn, Asif said that Pakistan attaches special importance to the development of relations with friendly Azerbaijan.
Furthermore, the ministers exchanged views on cooperation in the framework of international organizations. The importance of trade turnover increase, as well as cooperation in energy, agriculture and other areas between our countries was also discussed.
Mammadyarov briefly informed his counterpart about the latest developments on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict negotiation process.
Furthermore, he stressed that Armenia barbarically destroys the cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people and places of worship belonging to Islamic culture in the occupied territories and intentionally targets civilians, including children and women, along the line of contact.
The ministers also exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest, as well as the agenda of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24
Trend:
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the inauguration of Neftchala Industrial District Sept. 24.
Minister of Economy Shahin Mustafayev informed the president about the work done here.
Seven industrial areas, a two-storey administrative building, technical and auxiliary buildings were built in the industrial district. 45.3 million manats were invested in the construction of production areas in the industrial district. The industrial district created 474 permanent jobs.
President Aliyev cut the ribbon symbolizing the opening of the industrial district.
The president viewed the production blocks and enterprises here.
One of the largest enterprises in the district is the Azermash OJSC - Iran Khodro joint car plant. The annual production capacity of the plant will be 10,000 cars. The facility will create 300 jobs. The plant is expected to be commissioned in December 2017.
President Aliyev also familiarized himself with the activity of Neftchala fish meal production enterprise. The annual production capacity of the facility is 25,000 tons. Neftchala fish meal production enterprise will create 26 jobs.
The president launched the facility.
Metak LLC, which has been operating for two decades, also established its own enterprise in Neftchala Industrial District. 1.35 million manats were invested in the enterprise.
President Aliyev launched the facility.
The president also toured Gilan PIVOT LLC. The annual production capacity of the enterprise will be 60-80 irrigation systems. The enterprise will create 15 jobs. The enterprise will start operating in November 2017.
The Azerbaijani president visited the workshop in the Neftchala Industrial District. All conditions have been created here for small entrepreneurs. The facility will create 10 permanent jobs.
President Aliyev also visited the enterprise of Togrul-2008 LLC, Providence Limited LLC, Azproduct LLC and Sun Rise Production LLC.
President Aliyev also toured the administrative building of the industrial district. The building has a meeting room, modern offices, an exhibition and sales center, a medical point, a post office and a canteen.
The president then met with representatives of local public.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24
Trend:
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Ayman Safadi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on the sidelines of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said Sept. 24.
Mammadyarov congratulated Ayman Safadi on his appointment as foreign minister and wished him every success in his activities.
At the meeting, the ministers discussed the current level of the cooperation between the two countries and exchanged views on the ways and prospects for the development of relations.
The sides noted the importance of continuation of successful cooperation within other international organizations, as it is case with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Expressing their concern on growing trend of Islamophobia in the world, the ministers emphasized the importance of strengthening and promoting of Islamic solidarity.
In this regards, Mammadyarov referred to the decree of the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan on declaring the year of 2017 the Year of Islamic Solidarity in Azerbaijan as well as Islamic Solidarity Games, successfully conducted in Baku.
Furthermore, he stressed that the continuation of the occupation of Azerbaijan's territories by Armenia in contravention of its commitments under the international law and demands of the relevant UN Security Councils resolutions poses serious threat to the regional peace.
Mammadyarov also informed about the functions of OIC Contact Group on Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan, barbaric destruction of cultural heritage and the monuments of Islamic worship in the occupied territories, in violation of international humanitarian law Armenia's acts to target in a deliberate manner the Azerbaijani civilians, including children and females along the line of contact.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24
Trend:
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Adel al-Jubeir, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the sidelines of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said Sept. 24.
At the meeting, the sides expressed their satisfaction with the current status of relations, particularly development of bilateral cooperation in the fields of tourism, agriculture, investments during the last years.
They gladly reminded 25th of anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia in 2017.
Mammadyarov spoke about contributions of Azerbaijan to the Muslim solidarity and in this regards underlined the decree of the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan on declaring the year of 2017 the Year of Islamic Solidarity in Azerbaijan, as well as Islamic Solidarity Games, successfully conducted in Baku.
The Azerbaijani minister also mentioned that the country attaches importance to the development of cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Mammadyarov informed his interlocutor about Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan, its policy of maintaining the current status-quo of occupation, barbaric destruction of the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan people and the monuments of Islam in the occupied territories, as well as acts of Armenia's armed forces to target civilians including children and women along the line of contact.
The Azerbaijani minister highly appreciated Saudi Arabias consistent support for Azerbaijan's fair and rightful position in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on the justice and the norms and principles of international law.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24
Trend:
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended a ceremony to supply water to cultivated lands of Neftchala district from Kur river via Neftchala main canal Sept. 24.
Chairman of Azerbaijan Melioration and Water Management Open Joint Stock Company Ahmad Ahmadzade informed the president about the work done here.
President Aliyev pressed a button to start supply of water to the cultivated lands.
Then a photo was taken.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24
Trend:
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today attended the opening of a new building of Salyan city secondary school No 2.
The head of state cut the ribbon symbolizing the inauguration of the 1200-seat school.
The Azerbaijani President was informed about the conditions created at the school.
The three-storey building has 48 classrooms, 6 labs, a medical point, a library, a 380-seat auditorium, a gym and shooting halls.
President Ilham Aliyev viewed classrooms, labs, a gym and shooting halls.
The head of state wished teachers and pupils of the school success.
Baku. Azerbaijan. Sept. 24
Trend:
As part of his visit to Salyan district, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has attended the opening of the Flag Museum.
President Ilham Aliyev cut the ribbon symbolizing the official opening of the museum.
The head of state was informed about the works done here.
All necessary conditions were created in the museum to showcase a large number of exhibits. The Flag Museum highlights different periods of Azerbaijan`s history, the flags of the states which existed in the territory of the country, maps, constitutions, orders and medals as well as national symbols.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
Believing in black propaganda, some Azerbaijani citizens have joined the Islamic State terrorist organization (IS, ISIL, Daesh) over the past five years, head of the Azerbaijani State Security Service, Lieutenant-General Madat Guliyev, told reporters in Baku Sept. 24.
Around 900 Azerbaijanis joined the IS, he said. "Eighty five of them were detained by the law enforcement agencies. At present, these individuals are in the penitentiary institution.
Moreover, 195 people were deprived of Azerbaijani citizenship, while most of them died in battles," Guliyev said. Around 300 Azerbaijanis were killed in Iraq. The representatives of the countrys State Security Service are currently in Iraq to clarify this information.
He added that the systematic work is carried out with the appropriate organizations for the Azerbaijani youth not to take the wrong path.
Azerbaijan is a civilized country which is developing rapidly and progressively, Guliyev said. "Our people are united around the Azerbaijani president. Azerbaijan is popularized around the world by its sport, culture and art."
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24
By Leman Zeynalova Trend:
Up to 15 September 2017, Azerbaijans Southern Gas Corridor CJSC has invested $7.6 billion or 62 percent of the total of $12.3 billion (total funding needs in 2014-2020) required for the financing of its participating interests in the Projects, a source in the Southern Gas Corridor CJSC told Trend.
"Above all, we would like to emphasize that total capital expenditures expected to be made at company (SGC CJSC) level, as well as at the level of the Projects (total costs), declined," added the source.
The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. It envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.
At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.
As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans Adriatic Pipeline.
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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24
By Farhad Daneshvar Trend:
The Iranian ambassador to Baku, Javad Jahangirzadeh, has called for stepping up efforts aimed at widening bilateral trade ties.
"The latest statistics show a considerable growth in trade turnover between the two countries over the past eight months," the envoy told Trend.
He also forecast that the figure would witness a surge in the next four months.
According to the data available on the website of State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, the two countries trade over the first eight months of the current year valued $168.9 million, indicating an increase of about 40 percent.
"However, the sides need to put in a great deal of effort for further expansion of economic ties," Jahangirzadeh added.
He further touched upon the new appointments in the cabinet of President Hassan Rouhani following his re-election in May, saying the new members of the administration will definitely contribute to improvement of the atmosphere for economic cooperation between the two countries.
"The appointment of Mahmoud Vaezi as the chief of staff of presidents office will contribute to deepening of economic relations," he added.
Earlier this month, Iranian presidential administration decreed to appoint Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Masoud Karbasian as the new co-chair of Azerbaijan-Iran Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation.
The development came after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani appointed the former co-chair of the commission, Mahmoud Vaezi, as the chief of staff of presidents office.
"The new Iranian co-chair of the joint commission, Karbasian, who has proper experience in customs issues, is seriously following up on the expansion of economic relations."
Tehran, Iran, September 24
By Mehdi Sepahvand Trend:
Iran has been holding talks for foreign investment with many countries, the sum of which amounts to $60 billion, First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the International Exhibition of Plastics Rubber, Machinery and Equipment, Iran Plast, in Irans capital city of Tehran on Sept. 24, Jahangiri said $26 billion of the investment plans has already turned into contracts signed between the sides, Trend correspondent reported from the event.
This week Iran signed a 1 billion euro line of credit deal with Austrias Oberbank and another worth half a billion euros with Denmarks Danske Bank.
The Iranian vice president further said that among the agreements signed so far, $11.6 billion has been implemented and the respective projects carried out.
He noted that since the conclusion of the nuclear deal, aka joint comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran has lured some $14 billion direct foreign investment.
The Iran nuclear deal which Tehran struck in 2015 with six major powers lifted many sanctions against the country in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear activities and paved the way for international business deals.
Recently, a Chinese state-owned investment firm provided a $10 billion credit line for Iranian banks.
China Development Bank also recently signed preliminary deals with Iran worth $15 billion for infrastructure and production projects.
Nevertheless, a couple of weeks earlier, an eight-billion-euro credit deal was signed between Iran and South Koreas Exim Bank, signaling an end to Iranian banking sectors isolation from the world.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24
By Fatih Karimov Trend:
Irans auto export continues to fall despite the fact that the countrys car industry has experienced output increase in recent months, following lifting of international sanctions.
According to the latest report of the countrys Industry, Mine and Trade Ministry, Irans passenger car (including sedans and SUVs) output registered a rise by 20 percent during the first five months of the current fiscal year (March 20-Aug. 21) to stand at 496,833 units.
Meanwhile, Mojtaba Khosrotaj, head of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) announced Sept. 24 that Irans auto industry export has registered a fall by 32 percent in terms of value and 20 percent in terms of volume during the first five months of the current fiscal year.
Irans passenger car export has decreased by 26 percent in terms of value and 25 percent in terms of volume, respectively in the five-month period, the official added.
Khosrotaj refused to unveil the exact value and number of the exported cars, but the last years auto export statistics indicates that the countrys car export is not brilliant.
Iranian automakers exported 10,000 cars in last fiscal year (ended March 20, 2017), which was 59 percent less compared to the 24,500 cars in the preceding year.
Now, Khosrotajs statement indicates that the decreasing trend of Irans car export will continue during the current fiscal year for third straight year.
Irans car export registered a record high in fiscal year to March 2011 and stood at 81,596, however the figure sharply fell in next year (fiscal year to March 2012) and accounted to 38,258 due to intensified international sanctions which targeted the countrys auto manufacturing industry.
The export even decreased to 10,000 in the fiscal year to March 2014, but revived again following the removal of the international sanctions against Irans car industry.
Iranian automakers exported 27,000 cars in the fiscal year to March 2015, but they failed to revive the exports to the pre-sanction period.
Some issues that prevent Iran to materialize its car export targets are systemic problems remaining from sanctions period. According to Khosrotaj, difficulties in transferring foreign exchange and the lack of communication between Iranian and foreign banks are among these problems.
However, there are other problems as well which have affected Irans traditional markets in the region.
Decrease of the purchasing power of people in the Middle East, as well as political and economic instability in some markets, such as Syria and Iraq also impact negatively Irans car export, Khosrotaj believes.
Tehran, Iran, Sept. 19
By Mehdi Sepahvand Trend:
In 2014, a series of reforms, called the Health Sector Evolution Plan (HSEP), was launched under President Hassan Rouhani in the health system of Iran.
Sometimes called RouhaniCare, HSEP came as a groundbreaking move to reshape Irans health sector after it had been grounded under harsh international sanctions during the Ahmadinejad administration around the year 2010. At that time, drugs became unprecedentedly scarce and a black market raged.
HSEP was mainly based on the fifth 5-year health development national strategy (2011-2016). It included different interventions to: increase population coverage of basic health insurance, increase quality of care in the Ministry of Health and Medical Education affiliated hospitals, reduce out-of-pocket (OOP) payments for inpatient services, increase quality of primary healthcare, launch updated relative value units (RVUs) of clinical services, and update tariffs to more realistic values.
The reforms resulted in extensive social reaction and different professional feedback.
The official monitoring program shows general public satisfaction. However, there are some concerns for sustainability of the program and equity of financing. Securing financial sources and fairness of the financial contribution to the new program were the main concerns of policy-makers. Some members of the Parliament opposed the plan from the outset.
Whatever good intentions legitimized RouhaniCare, now there are many people in the private sector who are bearing the brunt of its deficiencies.
One of Irans oldest drug bottle manufacturers is facing a huge crisis and is coping to prevent bankruptcy, which the management associates with RouhaniCare.
The company, Trend has found out, has already exhausted all the banking facilities that it could acquire directly or through its subsidiary factories, and is now changing its molds to produce bottles for uses other than drug packaging.
An official with the company, speaking on conditions of anonymity, told Trend that the crisis follows a liquidity crisis in Irans healthcare sector, a relic of HSEP.
"Drug manufacturers can no longer produce, because they have been facing a liquidity crisis after the government failed to pay its outstanding debts to hospitals and pharmaceutical companies," the source said.
RouhaniCare was implemented right at the time when international sanctions against Iran were at their peak, hard pressing the government whose main source of income was oil export. Later on, when sanctions were lifted following Irans nuclear deal with world powers, a huge plunge in oil prices followed, leaving the Iranian government with little improvement of oil revenues.
Just before HSEP was introduced, the government had allocated 160,000 rials (about $4.8) to each patient as health subsidy to be given via the Ministry of Labor and Welfares Social Security Organization to insurance companies. However, the HSEP authorized 320,000 rials (about $9.7) for each insured person. Shortage of resources left the government with huge debt to the health sector.
"Instead of liquidating the debts, the government has proposed that it will provide the pharmaceutical companies with low-interest loans, which will drive them deeper into liquidity crisis in the long run," the source in the packaging company said.
"Now, as they have cut down on production, the drug manufacturers would naturally no longer place orders for packaging."
This drug bottle factory now faces worth at least 1.8 billion rials (about $54,000 on Sept. 19) surplus product that it is not optimistic to be able to sell within the current fiscal year (to end March 20, 2018), and therefore sees no need to produce drug bottles anymore, the source observed.
"As a result, it is changing its molds from drug bottles to food bottles."
The shortcomings of HSEP were not limited to international sanctions and lowering crude prices. As it turned out, domestic policy-making also played a big role. In July 2016, Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Ali Rabiee admitted the faults, saying the way the plan was implemented resulted in a huge liquidity crisis.
"The HSEP is the governments big social project, but the problem was that we did not go step by step and did many things all at the same time. We changed the 2K (a health service payment guide) at the same time as we implemented the nationwide health insurance and also revised the Relative Value Guide."
But there was more to this, as Rabiee noted.
"First I thought there were 5 million people in Iran who did not have insurance coverage and were to be covered under HSEP. But later, as the countrys statistics infrastructure improved, the number was found to be 11 million. Also, the per capita health insurance allocation had improved from 160,000 to 320,000 rials. As a result, 3.52 trillion rials of fiscal load appeared out of the blue, whereas we had planned for 1.1 trillion. That is why we hit a liquidity crisis."
The minister had elsewhere said that about 80 percent of the fiscal load of HSEP lay on the shoulders of insurers.
A few days after Rabiees controversial remarks, Health Minister Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi admitted the fact and said that insurance companies did not possess enough resources to pay up, noting that in the preceding fiscal year, insurance companies faced an 8-trillion-rial deficit.
Also, Farzad Firouzi, a South Khorasan Welfare official, said in January 2016 that RouhaniCare had increased the fiscal burden on insurers by four or five times.
Head of Food and Drug Organization Rasul Dinarvand last December said if debts owed to drug manufacturers were not paid, a "crisis" would sweep the countrys drug market.
In July, there were reports that some private hospitals had quit accepting patients under RouhaniCare as they were not being paid by insurance companies.
In June, Deputy Chairman of the Parliaments Health Commission Homayoun Yusefi also rang the alarm over debts that hospitals owed to drug manufacturers and added, "The Ministry of Health faces a huge amount of debt."
This September, Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Association of Iran Mohammad Baqer Zia said the pharmaceutical industry in Iran had been crippled because companies were not receiving their claims from insurers.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24
By Khalid Kazimov Trend:
The ground force of the Iranian regular army launched massive war games along the countrys western frontier areas hours after the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) started similar drills dubbed Muharram in the northwestern regions.
Quick reaction unites of the armys ground force have joined the drills in the western province of Kermanshah, ILNA news agency reported.
Brigadier General Nozar Nemati, the deputy commander of the ground force of army, has said that the one-week drills codenamed Heydar-e Karrar will be staged in several phases.
Earlier in the day, Brigadier-General Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of the ground forces of the IRGC, announced that his troops cleared the countrys northwestern frontiers from anti-revolution insurgents as part of Muharram maneuvers.
The Iraqi forces have killed more than 200 Daesh terrorists, and liberated around 500 square kilometers (over 190 square miles) of territory west from the northern town of Hawija, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a statement on Saturday, Sputnik reported.
On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced the start of the operation to clear the territories of western Anbar province and Anah city from the remaining Daesh terrorist groups.
The units of the federal police and mechanized brigade have completed the first and second stages of the operation, regained control of over 480 square kilometers of the territory, liberated 41 villages and destroyed 225 Daesh militants, the statement read.
The command noted that the armed forces also destroyed the vehicles and weapons, which belonged to the terrorists and managed to move 90 families away from the area of clashes.
Meanwhile, the Middle Euphrates River Valley is one of the two areas where Daesh fighters remain in Iraq. The other zone is the western Anbar province.
The Daesh terror group took control of Hawijah in 2014. This area became a main stronghold of terrorists after the Iraqi army regained control of Mosul in July.
Earlier, the Iraqi authorities announced that they had freed over 90 percent of their territory from terrorists. According to the government data, over 2.2 million refugees have returned to the Iraqi regions which have been liberated from the terrorists.
Russia's Lt. Gen. Asapov, who helped Syrian forces during the operation to lift the blockade of Deir ez-Zor, died as a result of Daesh shelling, the Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday, Sputnik reported.
"Lt. Gen. Valery Asapov died in the Syrian Arab Republic as a result of the Daesh shelling," the statement said.
The ministry specified that Asapov was a member of the group of Russian military advisers providing Syrian commanders with assistance during the operation aimed at the liberation of the city of Deir ez-Zor.
According to the ministry, the deceased serviceman will receive a state award posthumously.
In early September, the Syrian government troops, backed by Russian airstrikes, broke a three-year Daesh blockade to the west and south of Deir ez-Zor. On Monday, the Syrian Army crossed the Euphrates River with the support of the Russian Aerospace Forces near Deir ez-Zor, knocking militants out from a number of settlements, and are currently developing an offensive eastward.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed referendum in the Iraqs Kurdish Autonomous Region with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in a telephone conversation late on Sunday, IRNA reported.
During the phone talks, both officials, in addition to sharing views on bilateral relations, dealt with the latest developments in the region, including Iraqs Kurdish Autonomous Region decision to a hold a referendum.
According to NTV television network, both presidents stressed the need to maintain Iraqs territorial integrity in their phone talks.
Philippines protest Duterte
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North Korea responds to Trump's UN speech. Moments after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called President Donald Trump "mentally deranged," Ri Yong Ho, the minister of foreign affairs, said his country may consider testing a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean.
Hong Kong loses its AAA rating. A day after downgrading China, S&P downgraded Hong Kong one notch to AA+, citing the close ties between the two places, Reuters says.
A UBS survey found 15% of eurozone companies planned to move everyone out of the UK. A UBS survey of 1,200 major corporations across the eurozone found that 15% planned to move everyone out of the UK following Brexit, and another 28% said they would remove "a large amount" of capacity.
Goldman Sachs doesn't see a bear market for US stocks. Goldman's Bear Market Risk Indicator sits at 67%, a level that has acted as a lead indicator for past bear markets, but the bank says, "Without monetary policy tightening much, concerns about a looming recession and therefore risks of a 'cyclical' bear market are lower."
JPMorgan retains the crown as king of Wall Street. JPMorgan ranked first in investment banking and FICC (fixed income, currencies, and commodities) and tied for first in equities with Morgan Stanley, according to the data-analytics company Coalition.
MongoDB files to go public. The database startup, which was recently valued at $1.6 billion, will become the seventh "unicorn" to go public in 2017.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise is reportedly laying off 5,000 employees. The job cuts will affect about 10% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise's workforce and are part of a wider effort to slash costs, Bloomberg reports.
Alice Walton becomes the world's richest woman. The Walmart heiress, worth an estimated $38.4 billion, reclaimed the title as world's richest woman following the death of L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.
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Stock markets around the world trade mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (-0.82%) lagged in Asia, and Germany's DAX (+0.27%) leads in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open little changed near 2,501.
US economic data is light. Markit US Composite PMI will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is down 2 basis points at 2.25%.
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FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Air Berlin's creditors have picked German flagship carrier Lufthansa and Britain's easyJet as possible buyers for the insolvent carrier's aviation business and will negotiate with them for the next three weeks. "Authority was granted to conclude one or more agreements with one or more of these bidders," Air Berlin said in a statement late on Thursday. Talks over its other Air Berlin assets, such as its aircraft maintenance unit, will continue with other bidders, it said. Air Berlin, which has about 8,000 employees and operates 144 mostly leased planes, filed for insolvency in August after major shareholder Etihad pulled the plug on funding. Two sources familiar with the matter had told Reuters on Thursday that Lufthansa was set to pick up a large part of the carrier. Lufthansa's CEO said earlier that the carrier wanted to secure the 38 crewed planes it leases from Air Berlin, and was interested in a further 20-40 short-haul planes. Air Berlin said negotiations with Lufthansa and easyJet would continue until Oct. 12, which means Air Berlin's board may not make a final decision on Sept. 25 as had been expected. The news comes ahead of a national election on Sunday in which Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to win a fourth term. At a rally in the western city of Neuss, where dozens of Air Berlin workers wearing fluorescent yellow crew jackets joined Merkel supporters, the chancellor said: "There are pilots from Air Berlin that we of course wish all the best to, like all people who have a job and would like to keep it." The prospect of getting access to Air Berlin's airport slots, planes and crews had drawn interest from those airlines and other investors, including former Formula One driver Niki Lauda, jointly with Thomas Cook's German airline Condor, and aviation entrepreneur Hans Rudolf Woehrl. Also, two people familiar with the matter had told Reuters earlier this week that British Airways owner IAG had joined the field of bidders for parts or all of Air Berlin. Bidders had been especially interested in Air Berlin subsidiary Niki, which operates short-haul flights from Germany and Austria to tourist hot spots. The deadline for bids for its maintenance unit, which has about 850 employees, has been extended to Oct. 6, Air Berlin said. Lufthansa declined to comment further on Thursday evening. EasyJet declined to comment and Condor was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach; Additional reporting by David Sahl in Neuss; Writing by Victoria Bryan; Editing by John Stonestreet and Stephen Coates)
Uber and Black Cab
Uber is under threat with the company's private hire licence denied by Transport for London. The ride-hailing service has become the darling of most Londoners, but in a city filled with Black Cabs and minicab firms there are plenty of alternatives out there.
There are several major competing cab hire apps that offer competitive rates compared to Uber, and if you shop around plenty offer introductory deals and rates to save cash immediately.
To compare the apps, we took a standard London cab journey from Clapham Junction to Bank station and checked the prices. On Uber, this would cost between 14 and 19 according to the app's online fare calculator - although under surge pricing this could easily go beyond 25 or more.
At a glance | Uber licence denied in London
Gett started out as a similar service to Uber in Israel, but has since become a major Black Cab app in London, offering users a fixed fare charge for their journey. Gett says it has no minimum fares for its journeys, unlike Uber, and users can choose to pay what is on the meter and pay in cash.
It also says users can get two minutes waiting time, so the meter will not start running until you are in the taxi. Users get a three minute cancellation window on their Black Cab, while they can also enable a tipping feature on the app.
Fare estimate Clapham Junction to Bank: 28
Credit: Gett
Another app seeking to capitalise on London's 21,000 Black Cab drivers, myTaxi formed recently through a merger of Hailo and car maker Dailmer's app.
The app says its fares are set by local regulators - so it follows the same rates as TfL. However they do offer plenty of price cuts for users, such as 10 off your first order with the code "myfirstmytaxi", half price London Airport trips and flash sales.
Using TfL's fare estimates, a myTaxi ride would cost between 17 - 23 on our route. Given its links to the Black Cab trade, myTaxi has unsurprisingly been celebrating the fall of Uber in London.
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Fare estimate Clapham Junction to Bank: 17-23
50% off fares now, we are undercutting UberX on the news that they are not fit and proper to operate. Discount applied automatically. mytaxi uk (@mytaxiuk) September 22, 2017
A minicab app that has been around for a few years now, Kabbee compares deals on its app for local cab companies in London. It has no surge pricing and offers fixed fee fares at rates comparable to Uber.
For example, a minicab from Clapham Junction to Bank station can be secured from one of several minicab firms for just under 20, although currently rides don't appear to arrive as fast as Uber's service. Users can also get 10 off with the code "Hurray10".
Fare estimate Clapham Junction to Bank:19
Car hire firm Addison Lee pitches itself as a more premium car hiring experience. It offers fixed fee fares through its app and has no surge charges. Users can choose from a range of vehicles for their pick up, including Standard, Executive, Large and Cycle friendly cars. Users can also bag 10 off their first journey, while it has a 7.50 minimum fare.
Fare estimate Clapham Junction to Bank: 21.20
Addison Lee
This minicab comparison app and website lets you choose and book from a range of private hire companies, setting your preferred route and choosing a car hire firm. It operates around the country, and while some of the shorter routes we tested came up as more expensive than Uber, MiniCabit offered several very cheap deals to London airports compared to competitor apps.
Fare estimate Clapham Junction to Bank: 27
French founded app BlaBlaCar has been around for more than a decade and offers a carpooling service, which is great for travelling between cities. The app lets users offer free rides and pair up with drivers and get free rides. It has an in-app messaging service to let you contact riders and share petrol costs.
Taxify launched itself weeks ago specifically billed as a challenger to Uber. It threatened to undercut Uber's main prices and offered to pay its drivers better.
However, Taxify has had its own inglorious run in with TfL. Unable to secure a private hire licence, Taxify bought a local cab company and offered them use of its app. Under threats of legal action, however, Taxify was forced to suspend its London operations after just three days, but it says it will return.
Credit: Taxify
Uber controversies timeline
Paul Manafort
Paul Manafort's longtime employee, Russian-Ukrainian political operative Konstantin Kilimnik, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that he and Manafort emailed each other "about Trump and everything" during the campaign.
Kilimnik's comments came a day after The Washington Post reported that Manafort, Trump's campaign chairman at the time, sent Kilimnik an email in July 2016 asking him to offer Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska "private briefings" about the campaign.
"There were millions of emails," Kilimnik told RFERL in a text message. "We worked for 11 years. And we discussed a lot of issues, from Putin to women."
"Of course we discussed Trump and everything," he said in another message. "A lot of things."
Manafort had written a cryptic note to Kilimnik, who has been scrutinized by US federal investigators for suspected ties to Russian intelligence, shortly after being named a campaign strategist in April.
"How do we use to get whole?" Manafort wrote.
Jason Maloni, a representative for Manafort, told The Washington Post that Manafort had simply been trying to leverage his high-level role on the campaign to collect past debts.
Kilimnik seemed to echo that statement, telling RFERL that "our clients owe us money."
"Is there any violation of the law or proof of my work for KGB or whoever in those discussions?" he asked, according to RFERL.
But it was Manafort who, according to Russian billionaire Deripaska, owed him money not vice versa.
Legal complaints filed by Deripaska's representatives in the Cayman Islands in 2014 said he gave Manafort $19 million in previous years to invest in a Ukrainian TV company called Black Sea Cable. The project fell through, and Manafort all but disappeared without paying Deripaska back, the filings claimed.
Kilimnik insisted that "on the political side there is no case that can be made about my involvement in the US elections," according to RFERL.
"They are tough investigators and probably will get Manafort for some financial crap," Kilimnik said, in reference to the FBI. "With that many years of international clients no one can be 100% clean."
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Manafort's lobbying work on behalf of Ukraine's pro-Russia Party of Regions and his business dealings with Russian entities has been under scrutiny by the FBI since at least 2014. He finally registered as a foreign agent in April under pressure by the Justice Department, but the focus on him as only increased since special counsel Robert Mueller took over the Russia investigation in May.
Since then, the FBI has also conducted a raid on one of Manafort's homes in July, in search of tax documents and foreign banking records. Mueller threatened to indict Manafort following the raid, according to The New York Times.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is reportedly helping Mueller investigate Manafort for possible financial crimes and money laundering. The IRS's criminal-investigations unit has been brought onto the investigation to examine similar issues.
NOW WATCH: Putin says Trump is not his bride and claims Americans don't know the difference between Austria and Australia
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CNBC's Jim Cramer said Wednesday that Sen. Elizabeth Warren is "dead right" when she says Equifax (EFX) executives will likely get away unscathed for the credit reporting company's data breach. In an interview Tuesday on " Mad Money ," Warren said: "So long as there is no personal responsibility when these big companies breach consumers' trust, let their data get stolen, cheat their consumers, like they did in the case of Wells Fargo (WFC), then nothing is going to change." The Massachusetts Democrat continued to say that if the U.S. wants change, then it has to hold corporate executives accountable, "period." "I think she's dead right," Cramer said Wednesday on " Squawk on the Street ." "I can't believe they're going to get away with this." "I think Equifax keeps their head down, they get away with it," he added. "I asked (Warren) to bring the board for some hearings. She would like to do that." Cramer has been a critic of Equifax since the company revealed on Sept. 7 that a data hack could potentially affect 143 million consumers in the U.S. Last week, Cramer said Equifax Chief Executive Richard Smith "should be fired" for the fallout. He's also critiqued the board , saying: "This is a company that seems to have no knowledge of what's really going on." On Tuesday, Warren also spoke about Wells Fargo's accounts scandal. She said the Federal Reserve has the chance to "step up" to remove the company's board in response to the scandal. Cramer agreed on Wednesday and hoped someone would ask Fed Chair Janet Yellen about Wells Fargo at the central bank's monetary policy meeting this week. Equifax and Wells Fargo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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By Joern Poltz and Michelle Martin MUNICH/POTSDAM, Germany (Reuters) - More than 8,000 people -- including hecklers blowing whistles -- showed up in Munich for one of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's final speeches before Sunday's national election that is expected to sweep her into a fourth term. Merkel, whose conservatives have a solid double-digit lead over the Social Democrats, largely ignored jeers from hundreds of left- and right-wing demonstrators to deliver a stump speech focused on stability, security and a promise to avoid tax increases. "Get lost," "Merkel must go," shouted some demonstrators as curious foreign tourists, in Munich for its famous Oktoberfest, snapped photographs of the German leader first elected in 2005. Merkel, who has faced down similar heckling at many other rallies, especially in the former Communist east, admonished the peaceful but boisterous crowd: "Whistling and yelling certainly won't ensure the future of our country." Merkel defended her 2015 decision to allow in about one million migrants as a humanitarian necessity but said she would prevent a repeat of the migrant crisis by doing more to fund programs in at-risk countries to keep people from fleeing. "What happened in 2015 cannot and will not be repeated," Merkel said, saying she would protect Europe's borders. At Berlin's Gendarmenmarkt, Merkel's main rival, SPD leader Martin Schulz urged supporters to make their voices heard, saying that high voter turnout could help offset growing support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Schulz, flanked by hundreds of red balloons, decried the AfD as "gravediggers of democracy," and said his party, which also opposed the rise of Nazis in the 1930s, would do all it could to fight the anti-immigrant group. "You are our enemies and we will defend democracy in Germany," he said. "The more people vote, the smaller will be the share of the far-right." Schulz told Bild newspaper he had not given up hope of victory and 37 percent of voters were still undecided. AFD POISED TO MOVE INTO PARLIAMENT Support for the AfD, which was founded in 2013 during the euro zone crisis but has won support since 2015 with its anti-immigrant rhetoric, is running around 11 percent. That means it will become the first far-right party in more than half a century to clear the 5 percent hurdle and enter parliament. The AfD, which has already won seats in 13 of 16 state legislatures, promised to reenergize debate there after four years of "grand coalition" rule by the two major parties. "It must get into the Bundestag lower house so that debates happen again," the AfD's top candidate Alexander Gauland told Reuters in Brandenburg's regional parliament. "This parliament...has become totally boring." Gauland said the AfD would bring in "completely different political suggestions" after four years of agreement between the parties of Merkel and Schulz on issues ranging from sanctions against Russia, the NSA spying scandal or on the refugee issue. Schulz described Gauland as "shameless". Gauland provoked outrage by saying at a recent rally that Germans should no longer be reproached with the Nazi past and should take pride in their World War Two soldiers. "The language that he speaks is the language of the Harzburger Front," Schulz said, referring to a radical right-wing alliance in Weimar Germany. "The gravediggers of the Weimar democracy, they spoke like Mr Gauland." The mainstream parties have ruled out working with the AfD, which may emerge as the third largest party; but Gauland said it would ultimately work toward being able to govern in the medium or long-term. Electoral arithmetic might yet push Merkel into another grand coalition with the SPD, or she may enter a three-way alliance with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and environmental Greens. The Forsa poll showed support for Merkel's conservatives holding steady on 36 percent, while the SPD ceded 1 percentage point to 22 percent. An Emnid poll put Merkel's CDU and its Bavarian sister party at 35 percent, while the SPD was at 22 percent. (Additional reporting by Caroline Copley and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Thomas Escritt and Ralph Boulton)
As lawmakers get ready to grill Equifax CEO Richard Smith and SEC Chair Jay Clayton on Capitol Hill in the coming weeks, many wonder how the respective executives of each organization will be asked to pay for compromising the sensitive information of American individuals and companies.
While two Equifax executives, including the companys chief information officer and chief security officer, retired earlier this month, there have been calls for Smith to resign as CEO as well. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called not only for Smiths resignation, but that of the companys entire board of directors, comparing the case to the Enron scandal.
Smith will testify before two separate congressional committees during the first week in October, meanwhile Clayton is scheduled to appear before lawmakers next week, though some doubt the SECas a government agency will receive the same treatment as the credit reporting company.
Without a doubt, the CEO is eventually is going to be fired at Equifax, cybersecurity expert Morgan Wright told FOX Business this week. What happens to the head of the SEC? [] Its the same issue they are supposed to be the guardians of trusted information.
It should be noted that Clayton was not head of the SEC when the hack occurred. He was confirmed as the head of the agency in May, while the hack is reported to have taken place in 2016. Still, the overarching question is whether any heads will roll at the SEC.
Mark Grossman, a tech lawyer with Tannenbaum Helpern, told FOX Business that the SEC hack was bigger than Equifax, with the power to put trillions of dollars of wealth at stake.
You can sue Equifax, try suing the SEC, Wright said. It should be as easy to hold someone in government as accountable as they want to hold the private sector.
Wright also pointed out that the SEC will be involved in reprimanding Equifax, likely fining them for the breach. The SEC is investigating the sale of $1.8 million worth of stock by three Equifax executives, after the breach was discovered by the company, but before it was publicly disclosed.
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"If that happened, somebody needs to go to jail," Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, (D- N.D.) said last week about the stock sale. "It's a problem when people can act with impunity with no consequences. How is that not insider trading?"
The hackers who breached the SECs Edgar system had access to non-public information that couldve allowed them to conduct insider trades, as well.
Clayton will testify before the Senate Banking Committee on Sept. 26, while Smith will testify before the same committee on Oct. 4 and a separate House committee the day prior.
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DUBAI/ISTANBUL, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Iranian forces have launched war games in an area near the border with Iraq's Kurdistan region, Iran's state media reported on Sunday, a day before a Kurdish independence referendum in the region.
Turkey also said on Sunday its aircraft launched airstrikes against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq's Gara region on Saturday after spotting militants preparing to attack Turkish military outposts on the border.
Iraq's powerful neighbors, Iran and Turkey, strongly oppose the Kurdish vote as they fear could fuel separatism among their own Kurds. Iran also supports Shi'ite groups who have been ruling or holding key security and government positions in Iraq since the 2003 U.S-led invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein.
The Kurdistan Regional Government has resisted calls by the United Nations, the United States and Britain to delay the referendum who fear it could further destabilize the region.
Iranian State broadcaster IRIB said military drills, part of annual events held in Iran to mark the beginning of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, are centered in the Oshnavieh border region. The war games will include artillery, armored and airborne units, it said.
Clashes with Iranian Kurdish militant groups based in Iraq are fairly common in the border area.
On Saturday, Turkish warplanes destroyed gun positions, caves and shelters used by PKK militants, a military statement in Ankara said. Turkey's air force frequently carries out such air strikes against the PKK in northern Iraq, where its commanders are based.
Turkey's parliament voted on Saturday to extend by a year a mandate authorising the deployment of Turkish troops in Iraq and Syria.
The PKK launched an insurgency in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. It is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
The U.S. embassy in Iraq cautioned its citizens that there may be unrest during a referendum, especially in territories disputed between the KRG and the central government like the multi-ethnic oil-rich region of Kirkuk.
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Three Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were killed and five wounded on Saturday when an explosive device blew up near their vehicle south Kirkuk, security sources said.
The explosion happened in Daquq, a region bordering Islamic State-held areas, the sources said.
Islamic State's ''caliphate'' effectively collapsed in July, when a U.S.-backed Iraqi offensive, in which the Peshmerga took part, captured their stronghold Mosul, in northern Iraq.
The group continues to control a pocket west of Kirkuk and a stretch alongside the Syrian border and inside Syria. (Reporting by Dubai newsroom and Daren Butler in Istanbul; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Pro tip for educators helping teens with their SAT prep: Try to provoke world leaders to fling 50-cent words at President Trump. (Not like "G-Unit," though. The other kind.) Last night, after Trump announced that he would be imposing new sanctions on North Korea, Kim Jong-un called the president a deranged US dotard that he promised to tame with fire. The burn sounded like Eminem had gotten his hands on a copy of McGuffey's Reader, and it immediately enflamed the internet to find out more about what might just be the new #covfefe.
The Twitter reaction followed a predictable cycle: LoL dotard, > Oh snap, thats a real word! > LoL, but dotard tho. Searches for the term hit peak interest literally overnight (the region that looked up the term the most was, unsurprisingly, Washington, DC). Within minutes, Merriam-Webster's ever-on-the-ball Twitter feed had offered a definition. This morning, the New York Times published a story noting the word had been used only 10 times in its pages since 1980. Other outlets pointed out that it was a word favored by Shakespeare and J.R.R. Tolkien. (Before we go any further, heres what you came here for: A dotard is an old person, someone who has become weak or senile.)
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Early this morning President Trump tweeted a fake word. Social media's reaction is a prime example of how language travels online.
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But it was Twitter that took the joke and ran the furthest. Unlike, Trump's covfefe, a typo that the internet got to define for itself, dotard has a definition, so instead of creating meaning from nothing, folks simply had to discover its significance and revel in it. Now that I know what it means, I gotta admit that dotard is a pretty accurate description of Trumpy, writer Toure said. Director Edgar Wright correctly pointed out that it would have been better to learn the term doing a crossword than as the precursor to nuclear war. Meanwhile, other folks, many of them seemingly Trump supporters, took up the hashtag #DotardTrump to make the argument that laughing at Kim Jong-uns comments was tantamount to backing a North Korean leader threatening nuclear war. Its not, really, but such are the ways of Twitter scuffles.
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The most valuable thing to come out of this, though, is that its actually become a teachable momentnot necessarily for diplomacy, but for vocabulary. Some have noted that the use of the word by Kim Jong-un may have stemmed from the fact that the North Korean state news service is using rather dated Korean-English dictionaries; if thats the case, its to the benefit of much of the English-speaking world.
Language evolves so fast that even though new and exciting words are always being invented, just as many fall out of favor. We discard words almost as quickly as we coin them, especially online. But thanks to Kim Jong-uns jab at Trump, who used the far-less-eloquent Rocket Man to disparage the North Korean leader both on Twitter and in front of the United Nations earlier this week, dotard is now back in favor. The Twitter Moment that commemorated the news didnt focus on the fact that people were now calling the US president a senile old man, it focused on the fact that online culture had picked up a new vocabulary word overnight. If we could get every political leader to do that, word-of-the-day toilet paper would get wiped out completely. (Sorry.) Moments like these are likely why the Twitter feeds of so many dictionaries are quick to respond to trending words: Theyre able to teach something with a mental association that isnt easily forgotten.
It wont last, of course. Even if Kim Jong-un is accidentally bolstering the vocabularies of everyone on the internet now, the news will quickly be eclipsed. Such is the cycle of Twitter. And indeed, by this morning, most of social media was already on to talking about other things. We'd all do well to keep last night's lesson in mind, though, lest we be hoisted on our own dotard.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Global auditing firm KPMG will appoint a South African jurist to conduct an independent investigation into a report for the tax service and work done for businessmen friends of President Jacob Zuma, the firm's chairman said on Friday.
"The investigation will determine if there is any evidence to suggest KPMG South Africa partners or staff were complicit in illegal activities by the Gupta family and their businesses, and whether there were any failings or collusion in the work performed and conduct of KPMG South Africa in relation to the (South African Revenue Service) report," KPMG International chairman John Veihmeyer said.
The Guptas and Zuma have denied any wrongdoing.
(Reporting by TJ Strydom; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Uber described SoftBank's interest in the company as an "incredible vote of confidence" (AFP Photo/Ben FATHERS) (AFP/File)
Washington (AFP) - The decision by London transport authorities to oust US ride-hailing firm Uber is "not really justified," US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Friday.
Ross, who acknowledged that the Uber issue is not one he is responsible for, nonetheless criticized European authorities for unfairly targeting American technology firms.
"It looks pretty obvious that they're becoming discriminated against because they're worried our companies are so much stronger than the ones in Europe itself," Ross said on CNBC.
Transport for London said the conduct of Uber, which has around 40,000 drivers and 3.5 million customers in the British capital, had "demonstrated a lack of corporate responsibility," and the agency would not renew the company's license to operate.
"I think what's happening with Uber is really not very justified in London," Ross said.
Although it is for British authorities to decide, Ross insisted that "Uber is a wonderful invention," and the problem is "London cabbies have been slow in adjusting to the new system."
London's traditional cab drivers have long campaigned against the ride sharing app, and supported the decision, but Uber said it will appeal.
London joins other cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai and Cape Town in blocking Uber, and the decision adds to woes for the company's new boss Dara Khosrowshahi following a string of controversies under his predecessor.
The Allergan logo is seen in this photo illustration in Singapore November 23, 2015. REUTERS/Thomas White (Reuters)
By Jan Wolfe
(Reuters) - A Native American tribe holding patents for drugmaker Allergan Plc import { Component, OnInit, ViewChild } from '@angular/core'; import { UserService } from '../Service/user.service'; import { IUser } from '../Model/user'; import { DBOperation } from '../Shared/enum'; import { Observable } from 'rxjs/Rx'; import { Global } from '../Shared/global'; import { ManageUser } from './manageuser.component'; import { MdDialog, MdDialogRef } from '@angular/material'; import { UserFilterPipe } from '../filter/user.pipe'; import { DataSource } from "@angular/cdk/collections"; import 'rxjs/add/observable/of'; @Component({ templateUrl: 'app/Components/userlist.component.html' }) export class UserListComponent implements OnInit { users: IUser[]; user: IUser; dataSource: userDataSource; displayedColumns = ['FirstName', 'LastName']; constructor(private _userService: UserService) { } ngOnInit(): void { this.LoadUsers(); this.dataSource = new userDataSource(this.users); } LoadUsers(): void { this._userService.get(Global.BASE_USER_ENDPOINT) .subscribe(users => { this.users = users } ); } } export class userDataSource extends DataSource{ constructor(private _users: IUser[]) { super(); } connect(): Observable { debugger; return Observable.of(this._users); } disconnect() { } }
My HTML:
HTML < pre > < div class =' panel panel-primary' > < div class =' panel-heading' > User List using Table < /div > < div class =' panel-body' > < md-table #table [dataSource] =" dataSource" > < ng-container mdColumnDef =" FirstName" > < md-header-cell *mdHeaderCellDef > First Name < /md-header-cell > < md-cell *mdCellDef =" let element" > {{element.FirstName}} < /md-cell > < /ng-container > < ng-container mdColumnDef =" LastName" > < md-header-cell *mdHeaderCellDef > Last Name < /md-header-cell > < md-cell *mdCellDef =" let element" > {{element.LastName}} < /md-cell > < /ng-container > < md-header-row *mdHeaderRowDef =" displayedColumns" > < /md-header-row > < md-row *mdRowDef =" let row; columns: displayedColumns;" > < /md-row > < /md-table > < /div > < /div >
The issue is that I am not getting any scripting error but data is also not binding. Weird thing is that when I debug the typescript in browser, the data gets bind sometimes while debugging.
It will be good if you can throw some light on this.
Please find the steps to upgrade to material 2 . 0 .0-beta. 10 dependency below just for your reference.
1 . " @angular/material" : " 2.0.0-beta.7" --> No Change 2 . " @angular/material" : " 2.0.0-beta.8" 2 . 1 Include " @angular/cdk" : " 2.0.0-beta.8" in devDependencies 2 . 2 Change " rxjs" : " 5.0.1" to " rxjs" : " 5.0.3" in dependencies 2 . 3 map bundle ' @angular/cdk' : ' npm:@angular/cdk/bundles/cdk.umd.js' in systemjs.config.js 3 . " @angular/material" : " 2.0.0-beta.10" 3 . 1 Change " @angular/cdk" : " 2.0.0-beta.8" to " @angular/cdk" : " 2.0.0-beta.10" 3 . 2 map below bundles in systemjs.config.js ' @angular/cdk/a11y' : ' npm:@angular/cdk/bundles/cdk-a11y.umd.js' , ' @angular/cdk/bidi' : ' npm:@angular/cdk/bundles/cdk-bidi.umd.js' , ' @angular/cdk/coercion' : ' npm:@angular/cdk/bundles/cdk-coercion.umd.js' , ' @angular/cdk/collections' : ' npm:@angular/cdk/bundles/cdk-collections.umd.js' , ' @angular/cdk/keycodes' : ' npm:@angular/cdk/bundles/cdk-keycodes.umd.js' , ' @angular/cdk/observers' : ' npm:@angular/cdk/bundles/cdk-observers.umd.js' , ' @angular/cdk/overlay' : ' npm:@angular/cdk/bundles/cdk-overlay.umd.js' , ' @angular/cdk/platform' : ' npm:@angular/cdk/bundles/cdk-platform.umd.js' , ' @angular/cdk/portal' : ' npm:@angular/cdk/bundles/cdk-portal.umd.js' , ' @angular/cdk/rxjs' : ' npm:@angular/cdk/bundles/cdk-rxjs.umd.js' , ' @angular/cdk/scrolling' : ' npm:@angular/cdk/bundles/cdk-scrolling.umd.js' , ' @angular/cdk/table' : ' npm:@angular/cdk/bundles/cdk-table.umd.js' , 3 . 3 Change